MLP: A Journey's End
by CJ Ambrose
Summary: A new threat arrives to Ponyville, with plans to rule over all of Equestria, and it seems like no pony in the world can stop him. Not even the Mane 6, or the one who represents balance between chaos and harmony. Sequel to "A Race Against Time" and "Good vs. Evil". Featuring Stardust Balance from "A Journey Beyond Sanity".
1. Prologue

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Prologue - Still Remains**_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own the story, for pony's sake!_

* * *

 _[Sometime after the ending of_ _ **Good vs. Evil**_ _…]_

"Alright, Casey… this isn't going to be the same thing that we always do… it's for _real_ , this time."

Casey was a young and orange-colored Earth pony, whose Cutie Mark was a silver crescent moon, along with a bright, blue-colored, and eight-pointed star, and was very knowledgeable when it came to astronomy.

He was also the special somepony of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, ever since their first encounter at the Crystal Empire, and he currently lived in Twilight's own castle that was located in Ponyville.

"Yeah, I think I get it, Stardust… but it's not too late for _you_ to back out of this."

"Oh, _please,_ " replied the gold-colored Earth pony, who represented balance between chaos and harmony. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

He also came from an alternate universe that Casey had ended up in one day, and in that universe, Stardust was the special somepony of Twilight, as well, except it was his world's version of the alicorn princess.

"Well, alright, you're asking for it, pal," said Casey, giving his friend a sly smirk as he shrugged his shoulders, and the two ponies looked at the blue Pegasus that was standing in front of them.

"Alright, everypony, you know the rules… this is gonna be a fair two-mile-long race, which starts here, and ends _all the way_ at Sweet Apple Acres… so that means _no using_ your special powers!"

She and Casey both looked over at Stardust, who rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know… I don't even need them anyway to beat this pony."

"Oh, you're about to eat those words," replied Casey, as he got his body into a racing position.

Nodding her head, Rainbow Dash flew up into the air, and cried, "Alright, the race starts in three… two… one… _and…_ "

 _WHOOSH!_

Once the pony that represented the element of loyalty was out of sight, Stardust and Casey both began racing down the rocky path that was in front of them.

At first, it was starting off fairly easy, but soon enough, they were jumping over boulders, and making sharper turns, along with the occasional taunts being made.

" _You might as well give up now, Casey, if you know what's good for you!"_

" _Ha, funny hearing that coming from the pony who couldn't last a three mile race in his own universe."_

 _*_ _ **sounds of frustration***_

" _When I get my hooves on that Pegasus…"_

* * *

Meanwhile, standing a few feet away from the side of the finish line were Rainbow and Twilight, currently waiting for the two Earth ponies to reach them.

"Casey's gonna be fine, Twilight," said Rainbow, who easily noticed that her friend was looking worried. "What's the reason to be so afraid?"

"I'm not _afraid_ , Rainbow," replied Twilight, with a slight frown. "I just… I'm _concerned_ for him. He hasn't been the same that whole _fusion_ thing with-"

"Twilight, _trust me_ , nothing bad is gonna happen," assured the young Pegasus. "I mean, come on, it's _just a_ race!"

* * *

Once they had reached the halfway point, Casey looked over at Stardust, and asked, "Feelin' tired yet, pal?"

"You kidding?" replied Stardust, giving his friend a smirk. "I feel _fantastic_ … and I'm still going to win this thing!"

"That's what _you_ think, but this race ain't over just yet," exclaimed Casey, and the two of them continued to increase their running speed.

 _Alright, Case, you know what to do if things start to go south_ , thought the young pony, but before he could finish his thought process, a familiar flashback appeared in his mind.

" _Mom! Dad!"_

 _As he kept on running as fast as possible to his home, Casey kept on calling out for his parents, hoping that they had chosen to stay outside, or gone to a safe place before it was too late._

 _ **"Princess Twilight! You have something that belongs to me!"**_

 _Several miles away, Tirek was destroying everything in his path, in order to find the super-powerful alicorn princess._

 _ **"Please** be okay, Mom and Dad," whispered Casey._

The young Earth pony suddenly shook his head, trying to not focus on that past memory.

"What's wrong, man?" asked a teasing Stardust, who was giving him a grin. "Havin' trouble there staying awake?"

"Oh, _as if_ ," replied Casey . "I am going to be _win_ this race, Star… and I'm about to do so _now_!"

Before Stardust could even say anything, Casey suddenly reached a more faster pace, and to his friend's surprise, he started to get more ahead of him.

" _What?!"_

The young and teenaged pony began to laugh, and he continued to go faster, knowing that the racing line would be coming up soon enough…

 _Alright, I just got to stay at this pace without-_

Unfortunately, more flashbacks began to appear in his mind, and they were definitely not pleasant ones.

 _"Fight me!" exclaimed Casey, who gritted his teeth in frustration._

 _"I'm not going to fight you," replied Stardust, which only made the young pony angrier, and he found himself dodging another one of his friend's attacks._

 _"Fight me!"_

Casey shook his head again, and muttered, "No, that wasn't me… I didn't do any of that…"

 _"Why, you little..." Having lost all of his patience for the foolish pony, Anti-Stardust used his powers to make Casey rise up from the ground, and then, he slammed him into the nearest wall. "You were supposed to be hurting him!"_

Twilight's worry for Casey continued to grow.

She could feel that something wasn't right, and not even Rainbow's comforting words were helping.

 _After pinning him harshly against a wall, Anti-Stardust - now more angrier than he was before - started slamming his body against the wall multiple times, and to make things worse, the sinister pony delivered some very powerful kicks to his ribcage area after tossing him to the ground._

"Casey?" asked Stardust, who was getting a little concerned as he watched his friend continue to shake his head several times. "You okay?"

 _After Starcade went back to just Stardust and Casey, who had both flown to opposite sides of the arena, the young pony made a rather harsh landing on the ground._

 _"What... the..." He gasped, but then, he let out a yelp of pain, due to his ribs now being seriously injured, and to make matters worse, he heard the sound of several explosions nearby._

" _Casey!"_ exclaimed Twilight, who began to run towards her loved one, and Rainbow soon followed after her.

 _After opening his eyes, Casey looked up, and saw a giant piece of the roof now falling down towards him. "That... can't be-"_

 _ **WHAM!**_

* * *

By the time the three ponies reached Casey, he had already crashed headfirst into a dead tree, and was now sprawled out on the ground.

" _Casey!"_ exclaimed Twilight, who started to help him up to his hooves. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fi-" Casey began to say, but then, he found himself shaking his head. "My… ribs…"

Twilight nodded, and she replied, "Alright, we're heading back to the castle so you can take your medicine… the race is over."

As the two of them quickly went in the direction of Twilight's castle, Rainbow looked over at Stardust, who had a sorrowful look on his face.

"He's going to be fine, Star," said the winged pony. "You didn't do anything wrong."

The human-turned-pony sighed, and he replied, "I wish that was true, Rainbow… but it's just not…"

################

"Well, you're certainly right about that," said Elixir Nova, as he watched what was going on through a magical portal. "And soon enough, my plan to rule over Equestria will come into reality…"


	2. Saying Goodbye

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 2 - Saying Goodbye_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and I happily own the story._

* * *

After he was given two teaspoons of medicine, Casey made a face of disgust, and said, _"It still tastes horrible."_

The orange-colored pony was back in his bedroom, and as Twilight began putting the medicine away, she replied, "Well, that's what comes with being a hero… but I am glad you didn't end up like Stardust, though, since his Twilight told me about the times that he has ended up-"

"Oh, yeah, I've had my fair share of near-fatal injuries," interrupted Stardust, who was making his way into the bedroom.

Twilight quickly noticed that he looked unsure about something, but she just figured that he was simply showing concern for Casey.

"Oh, you'd better not start gloating or anything like that," said the young pony. "I was almost about to beat you!"

Stardust let out a chuckle, and he shook his head, replying, "You must have hit your head _pretty hard_ if you thought that I was going to lose the race."

" _Ha-ha, very funny_ ," said Casey, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "Just wait until the next time you come to visit... by then, you'll _definitely_ see what I'm talking about."

At first, Stardust didn't give a response, but then, he gave a playful punch to his friend's shoulder, and replied, "Alright, I get it… just focus on getting better _health-wise,_ okay?"

Due to the medicine's side-effects, Casey was becoming tired very fast, and as soon as they did a bro-hoof, he went right to sleep.

 _Well, time to go,_ thought Stardust, who looked over at Twilight, and gave her a small head nod before walking out of the room.

* * *

 _The time has come  
It's for the best, I know it  
Who could have guessed that you and I…_

As he entered the library, Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Not right now, Starswirl."

Then, he proceeded with turning on the world-travel machine that Twilight and her friends had created after defeating Rowan for the first time, but before Stardust could step inside, a familiar voice caused him to remain still.

"I may not know you as well as the Twilight from your world does, but I can tell when something is bothering one of my friends."

Letting out a sigh, Stardust turned around to look at Twilight, who was standing by the doorway, with a look on her face that meant she knew he was hiding something.

She also had a point… even though neither of them obviously did not have any sort of romantic feelings for each other, Twilight still considered him as one of her friends, especially after everything that her other self had said about Stardust.

"What's wrong?"

The gold-colored pony paused, for a moment, before he replied, "Look, Twilight, I… uh… it would be best if I just stayed in my own world from now on… and that you all stay here in yours."

At first, Twilight was confused after hearing his statement. "Well, then, why do you… wait… you mean that… you don't want us to see each other ever again?"

"Er, I mean, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of harsh," replied Stardust, but when Twilight raised her eyebrow, he said, "I don't want anything worse happening to Casey… it's because of me that he even got hurt in the first place."

"Stardust, that wasn't your-"

The young pony shook his head, and said, "I had so many chances to get him out of harm's way, but instead, I let my evil counterpart nearly beat the living **** out of him."

Before Twilight could say anything else, Stardust added, "I am doing this for _you_ just as much as I am doing it for _him_ , Twilight. You don't deserve to go through the same type of pain that my alicorn princess did… so-"

"Stardust?"

The two ponies turned around, and saw that Casey was now in the room, looking half-sleepy and half-awake.

Not wanting either of them to cause an argument, Twilight tried to get him out of the library. "Alright, Casey, time to go back and-"

"This isn't, like, a _goodbye_ good-bye, right?" said the orange-colored Earth pony, who did not plan on leaving just yet. "We agreed that-"

"I know what we said, Casey," replied Stardust, who was starting to speak in a little more serious tone. "But ever since then, almost nothing but trouble has happened to us… and this is exactly what I feared would happen if this continued any longer."

Casey started to frown, and he said, "What do you mean by ' _this_ ', Stardust? You sound as if you regret ever being my friend… or that it's my fault we are."

"Well, I mean, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't shown up in _my_ world on some random day from out of the blue," reminded the gold-colored pony. "And if you hadn't left your necklace behind, then I wouldn't have had to come back in order to return it."

Raising an eyebrow, Casey exclaimed, "Oh, so basically, you wish that this never would have happened in the first place?"

"Hey, those are _your_ words, not mine," replied Stardust. "But now that you mention it, I _could_ have avoided being killed in the past, present, or whatever by Rowan… I would not have had to deal with the Rainbow from my world being upset with me…"

 _Jack, I don't think now is the best time to-_

 _(Stardust) I'm doing this for his own good!_

"If we're going down that route, Stardust, then I should point out that it was _your_ other self that came into _this_ world to kidnap Twilight," said Casey, who was now starting to get upset.

Not wanting anything else to get worse, the young princess said, "Alright, Casey, let's not end up doing something that will-"

"Well, it was _your_ stupid time travel watch device that he got ahold of," growled Stardust, now sounding like he was irritated. "And I didn't ask to be fused with _you_ in the first place!"

"Hey, neither did _I_ ," replied Casey, who was no longer feeling tired. "In fact… yeah, you know what, I _do_ blame _you_ for me getting all of these injuries… so, why don't you get back to your own world before something else happens to me?"

"That's what I am _trying_ to do, you _fool_ ," exclaimed Stardust, who began to walk through the time machine. "And don't expect me to come help if something terrible happens here… _your_ world, _your_ problems."

 _WHOOSH!_

Before Casey or Twilight could respond to that, Stardust was taken back to his own world, and neither of them said anything.

Then, just as Twilight was about to speak, Casey quietly walked out of the library, and went back to his bedroom, leaving the alicorn princess by herself.

"Oh, this _can't_ be good," said Twilight, sounding concerned. "I mean, how is the other me from Stardust's world going to react when he hears about this?"

* * *

" _Haha, yes,_ _ **now**_ _we're getting somewhere!"_

A grin of triumph appeared on Elixir's face as he watched the argument between Stardust and Casey unfold in front of him.

"So, does that mean we get to attack Pony-" Ronxor started to say, but his master shook his head, in response.

"Not quite yet, my friend," he replied, with an evil smile on his face. "But rest assured, our victory is a guaranteed success… and in the meantime…"

Elixir walked over to a nearby desk, where a nearly-complete mechanic weapon was being built at.

"Hurry with the completion of your invention, Ronxor… I want it to be ready on the day that we decide to pay Stardust Balance a visit."

The silver-colored Pegasus nodded his head, but before he resumed his work, Ronxor asked, "Sir? What are you going to about Casey?"

"Oh, I have something _very special_ in mind for him," replied Elixir, as he started to laugh. "But until that time comes… we have to make balance a little bit more _unstable_."


	3. Mistakes, Part 1

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 3 - Mistakes, Part 1_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance belongs to the Warrior of Twilight_

* * *

Only a few minutes had passed since Casey and Stardust's argument, and since then, Twilight had been pacing back and forth in the library, wondering what to do.

"Okay, there has to be some way to fix this," said the princess of friendship. "Maybe if I… no, that won't work… oh, I could… ah, no, that isn't it…"

Suddenly, Twilight stopped in place, and it was almost like a lightbulb had appeared over her head. "I got it!"

* * *

 _[Stardust's World]_

As he stepped out of the time machine, Stardust did his best to ignore the feelings of guilt that he had inside of himself.

 _You know that was not the right way to handle things, Jack._

"Oh, don't start with me right now," muttered Stardust, who was also feeling irritated about the things that Casey had said to him. "I did what I had to do, Starswirl."

As he left the library, the young pony quietly made his way to the throne room, but Starswirl was not done talking just yet.

 _But at what cost? You two have a wonderful friendship, and-_

" _Drop_ it, alright?" growled the Earth Pony, starting to frown. "I am _not_ in the mood right now, so can we _please_ not talk about Ca-"

" _Yes, Jack?"_

Stardust stopped himself after realizing that he was now standing in the doorway of the throne room, and all of the Mane 6 were sitting in their respective seats, except for Starlight and Spike.

 _Well, this isn't what I was expecting,_ thought the gold-colored pony. _And why does Twilight look like that?_

Everypony in the room had a casual facial expression, but for some reason, Twilight had a frown on her face, and she did not look happy at all.

"Take a seat, Jack…"

Stardust nodded his head, and as he sat down in his throne, he gave Spike a look that meant _"what is going on"_ , but the little dragon simply shrugged his shoulders.

Looking at the rest of his friends, who continued to remain quiet, Stardust said, "Okay, am I _missing something_ here?"

"Why did you get into an argument with Casey?" replied Twilight, and before he could deny anything, she added, "The other me told me what had happened before you left their world."

Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "I should have known they would end up talking to each other."

 _You're on your own for this one, my friend._

After sarcastically thanking the elderly pony, Stardust looked at Twilight, and he said, "I got into an argument with him, love, because Casey doesn't deserve to go through what I - what _we_ go through any longer… and neither do his friends… so I did what I had to do."

"Getting into a heated argument with him, and saying that you're never going back?" said Twilight, full of disbelief. "Jack, there are so many other ways that you could have handled this situation… ones that did _not_ involve losing a friend."

"Oh, my way was not _that_ bad," replied the young pony, even though part of him was agreeing with Twilight's statement. "Look, love, I know what I am doing… remember what happened here with my other self? When this castle was turned into a stadium?"

Twilight remained quiet, for a moment, as the memories of those events came back to her, and Stardust added, "I just _stood_ there, and _watched_ as Evil Me beat the living [BEEP] out of Casey… and then, when Evil Me caused the whole place to explode, I couldn't save him from-"

"Explode?" interrupted Rainbow, who was confused since she remembered things differently. "I don't remember that happening when me and my other self came back to stop Evil You from hurting everyone."

" _Oh, yeah, that was when Stardust and Casey became that super-super pony, and beat the stuffing out of Evil Stardust, and after saving the other Twilight, Starcade kissed her because-"_

Twilight held up her front left-hoof, causing Pinkie to stop talking, and she said, "The _point_ is… I _really_ wish you would have handled this better, Jack, or at least came to _me_ first before deciding to just take it in your own hooves."

Stardust was about to defend himself, but then, to his surprise, Applejack said, "Star, you think that maybe you're gettin' a little bit too worked up about this whole _death_ stuff?"

"Huh?"

The country-speaking Earth pony held up her front hooves, and added, "Well, hear me out, Star… I just don't want you to _'lose control'_ or anything like that… and become something that not even _we_ can stop, like that one time when… you know…"

For a moment, Stardust's anger went away as he remembered what AJ was referring to, but then, flashbacks of when Evil Stardust tried to destroy the castle came back to him, which included a giant part of the rooftop falling down, and landing on-

" _Jack_ …"

The human-turned-pony looked over at his special somepony, who had the same expression as Casey's Twilight when trying to talk to him, and she added, "I know you might not want to, but please make things right with him… is the friendship that you two have not worth saving?"

Remembering what had happened with Casey during their race, and the way that Twilight's other self had looked after seeing her loved one in pain, Stardust started to shake his head.

"I've already seen enough of my friends die, love… and the last thing I would want to happen is for his Twilight to feel the same way that you did after the whole _Tirek_ incident."

Having already felt enough guilt, Stardust began to walk out of the throne room, but Twilight said, "Jack, this isn't the-"

"Just let him be, Twilight."

Everyone looked over at Rainbow, surprised to hear that come from her, and once Jack was gone, Twilight asked, "Why would you say-"

"Because I sort of know what he's going through," replied Rainbow, referring to the time that she had her own feelings of guilt because of the way she had treated Stardust. "So, it's gonna be a while before he even considers talking to Casey."

* * *

While Casey was still asleep, allowing the medicine he had took to help lessen the pain coming from his ribs, Twilight continued to pace back and forth in the library as she waited for Stardust to (hopefully) come through the time machine.

 _If anyone can fix this friendship, it's me_ , thought the alicorn princess. _Well, technically, it's another version of me, but still, this should be simple enough for me - I mean, her to fix._

 _ **WHOOSH!**_

Twilight's face lit up with happiness as she watched the time machine become activated, but to her surprise, it was her other self that stepped out instead of Stardust.

"Oh, hi, Princess Me," said Twilight, who gave him a polite smile. "How did it go? Is he going to apologize?"

Princess Twilight sighed, and she shook her head, much to Twilight's disappointment.

"I'm sorry, but… it's going to be a while until he decides to come back, ready to apologize."

"And Casey is still recovering from his ribs injuries," said Twilight, who also sighed. "If only I had done more when they first started arguing, we would not have-"

Her other self shook her head, and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Trust me, it would have resulted in the same exact way… all that we can do now is hope our special somepony's realize that this is pointless before this gets dragged on too long."

Giving her an appreciative look, Twilight chuckled, and said, "Yeah, I mean, they can't go _that_ long with being mad at each other… they'll have to make up eventually."

"Absolutely," replied Stardust's special somepony. "Like, seriously, who can hold a grudge for _that_ long?"

* * *

 _A few weeks later_

A wide smile appeared on Elixir's face as he said, "Oh, Ronxor… it's _beautiful_."

The silver-colored Pegasus nodded his head, and replied, "Thank you, sir… to be honest, this is my best work."

"Indeed, my friend… great work."

After removing the weapon from the desk, Elixir turned to look at his newest comrade, who wore a hooded cloak that covered most of his body, as well as a metallic mask that covered his face.

"Are you ready for what we are about to do, Omega?"

The cloaked pony nodded his head, and replied, "I have been ready for a _long_ time, Elixir. You just make sure to keep up _your_ end of the bargain once all is said and done."

Elixir began to chuckle, and he said, "Oh, don't worry… once Stardust Balance is taken care of, we will _all_ get what we want."

From beneath his mask, Omega started to smile, but then, it went away after Ronxor asked, "So, are you sure we don't have to worry about Casey coming in to, like, stop us from-"

"That _won't_ happen, you idiot, because he's dead," replied Omega, walking straight up to Ronxor, who did a small gulp. "And you know who could have saved him?"

"Uh, Stardust?" said Ronxor, in a nervous but humorous tone.

" _Exactly_ …" growled Omega. "So, please, _think_ before you _speak_ , or I will do the same thing to _you_ that I did to _him_."

Not wanting to know what that was, Ronxor quietly backed away while Elixir proudly put a hoof on Omega's shoulder.

"I'm glad that we have you with us… Stardust will have no idea what to expect when he faces you."

Omega turned his head up at Elixir, who found himself moving to the side as he replied, "If that pony wants to remain alive, then he'd _better_ not cross paths with me… or else he's going to suffer the same fate as his friend."


	4. Mistakes, Part 2

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 4 - Mistakes, Part 2_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight._

* * *

With the doors now closed, the Friendship Express began its journey from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire.

Aside from the conductor, the only occupants aboard the train were Stardust, Twilight, and the rest of the Mane Six, along with Spike and Starlight.

"Are we there yet?" muttered Rainbow, as she lowered herself in her seat. "I'm _starving_!"

Stardust rolled his eyes, and he said, "We _just_ left the station a few minutes ago, Rainbow... did that breakfast at the castle not fill you up?"

"I guess _not_ if my stomach's still growling," replied the young pegasus.

Applejack shook her head, and said, "For the love of hay, Rainbow Dash, you eat more than my pigs do…"

The talented flyer just rolled her eyes, and she replied, " _So, I'm hungry again_ … what's the big deal?"

As the two ponies continued to argue with each other, Twilight looked at Stardust, who was quietly looking out the window, and said, "I know you don't like when I bring this up, Jack, but it's been three weeks since… you know…"

"Yes, love, I am aware of that," replied Stardust, letting out a sigh.

Three weeks had passed since he and Casey had "ended" their friendship, and unfortunately, neither of them had decided to be the "bigger pony" by apologizing to the other about what had happened.

"But I'm not going to ruin the happiness that he probably has in his life right now by just showing up with an apology for _pretending_ to be angry at him… plus, if he'd wanted me to come, he or the other Twilight would have called from their communicator."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and she said, "Well, maybe it was because you told them that if they ever needed help, you wouldn't be there."

"I don't always say the right thing, love," said Stardust, giving her a small shrug. "Besides, this probably would have happened one day anyway, so-"

All of a sudden, before he could finish his sentence, the train came to a screeching halt, and almost everypony fell out of their seat.

"Starlight, your mane's covering my face," muttered Stardust, since the purple-colored unicorn had fallen into his lap.

"Oops, sorry, Stardust," apologized Starlight, who quickly moved away from her friend.

As Rainbow flew in the air, she let out a sigh of relief, and said, "About time we got here! I'm ready to eat a whole lot of-"

"Um, I am not sure we arrived just yet, darling," said a confused Rarity. "The train's never stopped this so sudden before."

"And I'm getting a _bad_ feeling about this," added Stardust, who started to frown, and he started walking towards the doors to see what was going on.

 _ZZZZZZZTTTT!_

Suddenly, sparks of electricity began to appear around the door, and Stardust stepped back a little bit.

"What the _[BEEP]_ is-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door was pulled off by its hinges, and Stardust immediately got himself into a fighting position.

" _Alright, who in the hell is out there?"_

To everyone's surprise, an unfamilar voice began to speak.

" _Why don't you all come outside, and find out?"_

Then, Stardust felt himself being lifted up into the air, and pulled straight out of the cart!

"Jack!" yelled Twilight, and she immediately ran out to go after him, followed quickly by the rest of her friends.

She found him lying nearbh on the dirt-covered ground, and started to help him stand up.

"Are you okay?"

While Stardust nodded his head, Pinkie looked around the barren landscape that they were in, and said, "Huh, I didn't know we were going to Starlight's old village."

"Um… we weren't, Pinkie," replied Fluttershy, feeling confused and a little afraid. "What is going on?"

" _I'm glad you asked, Fluttershy_."

The mysterious voice had returned, and everyone saw that it was coming from a black-colored Earth pony, who stepped out of his hiding spot, with some sort of octangular-shaped device placed over his left eye.

"My name is Elixir, little ponies… _this_ is going be the day when I take over all of Equestria, and send each and every one of you here to a place where I don't have to worry about you all ruining my plan."

Stardust let out a sarcastic laugh, and he said, "Look, new pony, I don't think you know who you're dealing with…"

"Oh, I think I do, _Stardust Balance_ ," replied the sinister pony, his muzzle becoming a smug smile. "But before I continue… _Ronxor_!"

Everyone watched as a silver-colored Pegasus appeared from out of nowhere, and hand the other pony a book-sized device that (to Stardust) resembled a gun.

"Okay, what the hell is _that_ supposed to do?"

A wide grin appeared on Elixir's face, and he replied, "Let me show you…"

Then, he fired the weapon, and in a matter of seconds, a blue-colored energy blast flew straight at Stardust, sending him to the nearest boulder before creating an explosion of dust and pebbles.

" _Stardust/Jack!"_ yelled Twilight and the others, while a smug grin appeared on Elixir's face.

" _I know you aren't dead, Stardust, so come out and show me your true power!"_

An angry Twilight glared at Elixir, and she was about to attack him with her magic when Rainbow held her back.

"Hold on, Twilight, just wait a sec!"

Before Twilight could say anything, a similar gold-colored energy blast came from the direction that Stardust had been sent to, and Elixir watched as Ronxor was sent flying high up into the air until he eventually disappeared.

Then, a few seconds later, Ronxor came crashing straight down into the ground a few feet away from everypony, and he cried, "I'm… okay… boss!"

Rolling his eyes, Elixir turned around just in time to see Stardust appear, except the human-turned-pony was now surrounded by an aura of gold-colored energy.

"Well, this is a surprise," said Elixir, a smirk on his face. "I thought you lost all those powers when your necklace was destroyed."

Not even bothering to ask how he knew about that, Stardust said, "I have enough to dish out a few surprises every once in a while, a-hole… and right now, you're about to learn that you messed with the wrong pony."

"Oh, is _that_ what you think?" replied Elixir, while Twilight was taking a closer look at the device that was over his eye. "Well, then, by all means… take your best shot."

" _I plan to_ ," exclaimed Stardust, and he flew straight towards Elixir, ready to deliver a powerful punch that would send him flying _far away_ from them… but to his surprise, the sinister pony blocked it with his own hoof.

 _What the… Starswirl, how was he able to do that?_

Before the elderly pony could give a response, Elixir said, "You need more practice, _pal_."

Then, he was about to fire his weapon at Stardust again, but got stopped by Rainbow Dash, who delivered a solid headbutt to Elixir's chest, which caused him to fly back a few feet away from them.

"No pony does that to my friend!"

She looked over at Stardust, and said, "You owe me twice now, Star."

"Oh, _please_ , where did you get that idea from?" replied the energy-covered pony, but before he could hear Rainbow's answer, Elixir started to come back, and he did _not_ look happy.

" _Enough of this nonsense! Ronxor, get his friends out of my sight!"_

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed the silver Pegasus, and with a weapon of his own, he fired smaller versions of the blue-colored energy blast at Stardust's friends, who all began to disappear once the blast had struck them.

Ronxor's next target was Rainbow, but before he could fire the weapon, Twilight used her own magic to knock it out of his hooves, and after smashing it with one of her hooves, she said, "You _do not_ mess with my _friends_!"

 _Oh, I love it when she acts like that,_ thought Stardust, who had so much affection for the young princess rignt now, while Rainbow rolled her eyes.

" _ **Enough!"**_

The trio turned to look back over at a worn-out and enraged Elixir, who now looked extremely upset with them.

" _I am not going to let you three ruin all of my hard work!"_

Stardust let out a laugh, and he started to shake his head. "Trust me, buddy, it was ruined the moment you chose to mess with the wrong pony."

Then, he slowly began to rise up into the air, and Stardust's remaining power that had come from the effects of his Cutie Mark necklace continued to increase, which somehow also caused his eyes to glow a bright white.

"Get ready to be sent back to wherever it is you came from!"

A hint of fear appeared on Elixir's face, while Twilight and Rainbow had looks of victory since Stardust was about to-

 _ZZZZZZZZTTTTTT!_

Suddenly, several blue streaks of electricity began to appear, and struck the Earth pony before he could deliver the final blow.

" _Aaaaaggghhhhh….!"_ screamed Stardust, who was now going through the worst pain that he could have ever imagined, and he was switching from his normal self to when his "balance powers" were fully activated.

Down below, Twilight and Rainbow saw that it was coming from a cloaked pony that had now made his appearance, but before they could attack him, Elixir said, "Wonderful job, Omega… take care of the others."

Nodding his head, Omega used his other hoof to send a white-and-orange energy blast at Twilight and Rainbow, causing them to fly up into the sky before they were completely out of sight.

Then, he concluded his lightning attack against Stardust, and watched as the injured pony landed in front of him.

"What… did you… do to me?" gasped Stardust, who was now twitching in pain, with tiny streaks of electricity surrounding his body.

"I made it so that you'll know what it feels like to be just like everypony else."

Before Stardust could say anything else, Omega grabbed hold of him, and lifted the young pony up so that they were now face-to-face with each other.

"You think you're special? News flash: _**you're not**_ _…_ "

Then, he scoffed, and from underneath his mask, Omega began to smirk.

"You know, this actually reminds me of how Casey looked before he died."

" _Wh… what?"_ said Stardust, who was becoming shocked and speechless.

"And you know what else? He actually thought _you_ were going to somehow appear from out of nowhere, and save him from me…"

After a quick shake of his head, Omega added, "No, Stardust… you _abandoned_ him, and therefore, you easily allowed _me_ to end his life… so have _that_ on your conscience, _hero_!"

With that, Omega used his other hoof to fire an energy blast, and watched as Stardust disappear after flying off into the sky.


	5. Unknown Territory

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 5 - Unknown Territory_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance belongs to the Warrior of Twilight._

 _Also, go out and see the new "Spider-Man: Homecoming" movie, if you haven't yet. It is_ _ **so freakin'**_ _awesome!_

* * *

After Stardust and the others were out of sight, Omega glared at Ronxor, saying, "You are truly pathetic, you know that?"

"What?" said the silver Pegasus, with a confused expression.

The cloaked pony pointed up at the sky, and exclaimed, "You almost let _those_ ponies get the better of you, and could have screwed up everything!"

"Oh, that's _rich,_ coming from the pony who hides his face behind a mask," retorted Ronxor, but he immediately wished that he hadn't said that after Omega began walking up to him.

" _Would you like for me to show you what's underneath my mask?"_ asked the cloaked pony, speaking in such a venomous and deadly tone that made the silver Pegasus quickly shake his head. _"I thought so."_

As Ronxor backed away, Elixir approached his newest accomplice, and said, "Great work, my friend… all my worries have gone away now that Stardust Balance is out of the picture."

Looking back up at the sky, Omega had a slight frown as he replied, " _Uh-huh_ … but a deal is still a deal, Nova… so _where_ is _she_?"

"I can assure you that she is in a safe place" said the black-colored Earth pony _._ "Once _all_ of Equestria is mine, you shall be reunited with her… but for now, I need you to gather up all the ponies that live in Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, and send them to my prison ship… alright?"

 _WHOOSH!_

Instead of getting a response from Omega, Elixir watched the cloaked pony rise straight up into the air, and fly away in the blink of an eye.

"Not much of a talker, I presume… oh, well, let's get going, Ronxor," said the villanious pony, whose muzzle began to grow into a sinister snile. "We have a castle in Canterlot waiting for us."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a tropical location that was somewhere way beyond Equestria, all of the ponies that Ronxor had fired his weapon at were climbing out of the small lake that they had ended up in.

"Well, _that_ was an interestin' pair of characters," said Applejack, who was trying to dry and adjust her hat by shaking it around. "Anyone seen Twilight or Star-"

As Spike dried himself off with a nearby giant leaf, he looked up in the sky, and his eyes became wide. " _Incoming ponies at 12 o'clock!"_

"Ugh… what was that, Spi-" Starlight began to say as she started to get out of the water, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Twilight, who crashed right into her.

 _WHAM!_

Both of them ended up in the water, and the alicorn quickly moved away from her, saying, "Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry, Starlight… are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm… fine…" replied the purple unicorn, whose eyes were rolling around in dizziness. "What happened to-"

 _WHAM!_

Rainbow Dash landed a few feet nearby, causing more water to splash over the two of them, and Twilight said, "Well, that only leaves us-"

Suddenly, Pinkie went straight through them, running across the water, and her hooves were open as she yelled, "Don't worry, Stardust, I got-

 _WHAM!_

The gold-colorer Earth Pony landed next to Pinkie, who quickly moved to the side, and after putting him in her hooves, she headed back to the land. "I got him, everypony!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," muttered Stardust, who was not exactly feeling great at the moment.

Once everyone was out of the water, the gold-colored unicorn shook his head a few times to think a little more clearly, and he asked, "Is everyone alright?"

All of his friends nodded their heads, and as Spike started to look around, he asked, "Um, so where exactly _is_ here, Star?"

"Uh… good question…" replied Stardust, who actually had no idea how to answer the small dragon. "Got any idea, Starswirl?"

 _Although this place seems somewhat familiar, Jack… I can honestly say that I am not sure myself, as well, about where we are at._

The human-turned-pony sighed, and he muttered, "Oh, this is _just_ great… I don't know how this could get any worse."

 _ **THUD!**_

" _ **You're about to find out…"**_

Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and said, "Someone is behind me, I presume?"

All of his friends nodded their heads, and he turned around to find himself facing a very familiar pony.

" _Do you not realize how much I want to banish you right now to that world I showed to your other self?"_

Stardust held up his hooves in defense, and replied, "Hey, look, Kronos, this wasn't… okay, first, _'great'_ to see you again… and also, none of this was my-"

Suddenly, the elderly pony swiftly picked up Stardust, and pinned him against a nearby tree.

" _Well, that… escalated quickly…"_

Twilight was about to confront the realm-watcher about his actions, but Stardust gave her a look that meant _"I can handle this"_ , and she nodded her head while Kronos continued to yell at him.

" _Everything was_ _ **supposed**_ _to be normal again after your EG counterpart changed his ways, but_ _ **now**_ _, you have allowed Elixir to take control of Equestria, and bring things into this world that are not meant to exist here!"_

"Hey, I didn't _allow_ anything to happen," cried Stardust. "I don't even know who the hell this Alexa pony is… none of us do!"

Before Kronos could continue to yell at him some more, Twilight offered a suggestion.

"Maybe you could tell us why Elixir wants to take over Equestria, and what he has against Jack?"

The realm-watcher sighed, and he glared at Stardust one more time before releasing from his grasp, allowing him to join the others.

"You okay?" asked a concerned Twilight, and Stardust nodded his head before looking back at Kronos.

"He could've at least apologized," muttered the gold-colored pony, and Kronos rolled his eyes as he used his magic to create a portal that would show them the events that came from his story.

"Now, then… Stardust, you are familar with the pony named Miles, correct?"

Stardust nodded his head, remembering what he had learned of the yellow Pegasus pony.

"Yeah, Rowan took control of his body in order to rule Ca… the other version of our world, but when that didn't work, he decided to just go and kill all of my alternate selves before eventually moving on to me."

It felt to Stardust that now was not exactly the right time to bring up Casey, especially after what Omega had told him.

"Your memory serves you well," said Kronos, nodding his head in approval, and then, everypony became surprised when the portal showed them a flashback of Princess Celestia talking to a less sinister-looking Elixir.

Well, except for Stardust, who groaned as he muttered, " _Please_ do not tell me that…"

"Not long after Rowan took control of Miles' body, she sent Elixir - who was previously arrested for crimes involving him using innocent ponies for _dark magic_ experiments - to try and stop him before things got out of hand," replied Kronos, while Stardust began to sigh in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, Elixir had his own evil purposes, which was mainly to rule over the ' _best_ _version'_ of Equestria that existed… so, at first, he thought it was the one that Rowan had traveled to after seducing your other self into becoming an evil version of yourself…"

The portal then showed everypony what had happened when Rowan had used the Silver Staff to send their other selves to different worlds, including the moment when Casey first met Stardust and Twilight, and it also showed how Rowan was eventually defeated by them, as well as when they had all gone to the other Pinkie's world-saving celebration party.

"But then, after all of _that_ happened, he decided that _this_ world was worth taking over… and unfortunately, his desires are about to become a reality."

"Not as long as _we're_ around," replied a confident Stardust. "After we figure out a plan on how to beat this Mixer pony, we'll stop him just like we've stopped everyone else in the past."

A smirk appeared on Kronos's face, and he said, "Well, I suggest that you all rest here for the night… you're a _long way_ from Equestria… several days, in fact… so make your decisions _wisely_."

" _Rest here?"_ exclaimed Rarity, looking around at all of the trees, vines, and the birds flying around. "But we don't even have any camping supplies with us!"

"I can fix that," replied Kronos, and with a small wave of his own magical staff, he conjured up a pile of supplies that would allow them to set up camp for the night. "Now, then, if you will all excu-"

However, there was still something that Stardust wanted more information on, so he asked, "What's up with Lightning Pony? And is Casey really… you know…"

An expression of sorrow appeared on Kronos' face as he said, "Yes, I am afraid so, Stardust.. and take my word for it when I say that you must not underestimate Omega… now, with that being said, I can no longer be of any assistance towards you and your friends.'

Stardust was about to say something else when Kronos added, in a more serious tone, "You're on your own for this, _Jack_ … and I am also warning you right _now_ that I'd better not have to return here _again_ because of something like this… or else I will send you to a place even _more_ worse than the one I showed EG Stardust."

Then, he and the portal quickly disappeared, with Stardust rolling his eyes, and saying, "So this is all basically Celestia's fault… again… _shocker_ …"

* * *

 _A few hours later_

Everypony was almost done with setting up their fair share of tonight's shelter, but as Twilight completed doing her half, she noticed that her special somepony was still standing by the edge of the lake, looking at the clear-blue water.

 _And don't expect me to come help if something terrible happens over here, Casey._ _ **Your**_ _world,_ _ **your**_ _problems!_

"Jack?" asked a concerned Twilight, who was walking over to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just... _(sigh)_... The last thing I told Casey was that I wouldn't be there if he was ever in trouble."

He then started to imagine his friend being confronted by Omega, and added, "I said that because I wanted him and his world to be safe… but instead, all I did was allow that damn lightning bolt pony to… to…"

 _You abandoned him, Stardust, and easily allowed me to end his life. Have_ _ **that**_ _on your conscience!_

Hearing Omega's voice in his head did not really help with making Stardust feel any better.

"I don't even want to know what his Twilight went through after she found out that… or what her reaction will be if I suddenly showed up just to check on her."

Stardust then sat himself down on the ground, and added, "All I ever wanted for Casey was to enjoy the rest of his life with his friends… with his own Twilight… but instead… I allowed that damn pony to just…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Twilight placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, and the two of them looked at each other.

"The best thing for us to do now is save Equestria from falling into Elixir's hooves, and make Omega pay for what he's done to our friend… and we'll all do it together."

A smile appeared on Stardust's face, and then, he said, "Thanks, love… _Pinkie! We need a chalkboard_!"


	6. Grieving

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Chapter 6 - Grieving**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and this story belongs to me._

* * *

As he made himself comfortable on Princess Celestia's throne, Elixir said, "Now, _this_ is the way that things are supposed to be… and they say that crime doesn't pay."

A few minutes later, one of his robotic servants entered the room, and said, " _Ronxor has returned, my master._ "

The dark-colored pony nodded his head, and replied, "Wonderful, send him in."

" _Yes, master,"_ said the robotic pony, and walked out of the throne room, with Ronxor making his way in a few moments later.

"I have some _very_ good news for you, sire," said the smiling Pegasus. "All of the ponies from Starlight's village have been captured, and locked away in the prison ship."

A small smile appeared on Elixir's face as he nodded his head. "Great work, Ronxor… the more allies of the Mane Six that we have in our grasp, the better… you've done well."

Filled with happiness, Ronxor gave his thanks to Elixir, and turned to continue working on his creations when he suddenly jumped in surprise.

"Oh, Omega, I… I didn't expect to see you there!"

The cloaked pony rolled his eyes, and walked past him as he went over to Elixir, saying, "I figured that, as the new ruler of Equestria, you would need something like _this_ in your defense department."

Reaching for something that was underneath the back of his cloak, Omega pulled out an object that was very familiar to Elixir's eyes, and the sinister pony said, " _Amazing_ , my friend… but how were you able to come across this?"

"I have my ways, Nova," replied Omega, and a laugh came out of Elixir's mouth as he patted him on the shoulder, which made Ronxor frown immediately.

" _Spectacular_ job… oh, and thank you for delivering the rest of Stardust's friends to my prison ship. You certainly know how to get the job done more faster than _others_."

Omega nodded his head, and he was about to say something else when he heard a scoff and some mumbling coming from Ronxor.

"Is there a problem here?"

The silver Pegasus frowned at Omega, and replied, "I don't appreciate you trying to _show off_ in front of me… especially when you're supposed to be _dead_ technically."

While Omega remained silent, Elixir raised an eyebrow, and said, "Come again, Ronxor?"

"It's _obvious_ who this pony actually is, sire," replied Ronxor, pointing at the cloaked pony. "How else would he know about _that?_ Plus, this explains why he didn't eliminate Stardust or even Twilight right away back when-"

"Are you _blind_ and _stupid_?" growled Omega, walking towards Ronxor. "You _saw_ what I did to them, and it did not prove-"

"Oh, is that _so,_ Omega?" challenged Ronxor. "Or… should I say, _Casey_?"

As soon as the winged pony said those words, Elixir began to frown, and he said, "Ronxor, it sounds like you are accusing Omega of actually being the pony that he killed back in the other version of Equestria."

"I… I am, sire," replied a somewhat-confident Ronxor, who had been expecting a different expression from his master. "It just makes sense… I mean, who else would quickly hesitate in trying to get rid of Twilight and Stardust?"

Elixir turned to look at Omega, who had yet to respond to Ronxor's accusation, and the dark-colored pony asked, "Are you _sure_ that it's him, Ronxor?"

"A hundred percent," replied Ronxor, giving the cloaked pony a smug grin, figuring that he had called his bluff. "It has to be…"

"Well, then I guess I have no choice," said the sinister pony, letting out a sigh as he looked at his new accomplice. "Omega, could you please take off your mask for me?"

Instead of giving a vocal response, Omega simply started to remove his mask at a slow pace, and once it was off, the cloaked pony also threw back his hood, thus revealing his entire face…

… but, to Ronxor's surprise, it wasn't the face of Casey.

"You still think that I'm him, you moronic numbskull?" said Omega, whose unmasked face was horribly scarred, and looked like he had been involved in a dangerous brawl with somepony else.

"I… but… you…" A confused Ronxor was trying to figure out a way to still prove his point, and as Omega put his mask back on, Elixir gave his friend a look of disappointment. "How did that even _happen_ to you?"

"A psychotic version of Pinkie Pie," replied Omega, in a dead-pan type of voice and serious expression. "Don't you pay attention to the stories?"

As for Elixir, he glared at his right-hand pony, and exclaimed, "Get out of my sight, Ronxor… go bring me more of the Mane Six's allies… _now!_ "

Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Ronxor quickly ran out of the throne room while Elixir looked back at Omega. "My apologies about that, my friend… I don't know what has gotten into him."

"No worries, I understand," replied Omega, dismissing it with a wave of his hoof. "To be honest, I might have done something similar… now, then, in regards to our _deal_ -"

"You will see her _once_ _ **all**_ _of Equestria_ is under my control," said Elixir, in a calm and relaxed tone. "And, if Stardust were to miraculosly come back like what happened with that other villain, there is something I would like _you_ to do for me."

After adjusting his hood, due to an object that was around his neck, Omega raised an eyebrow, and he asked, "What would that be exactly?"

"Is it not obvious?" said a smiling Elixir. "Whatever you did to Casey… I want you to do the same to Stardust… in front of me _and_ his beloved princess."

* * *

"Hey, Star?"

The gold-colored pony paused his chalkboard writing to look over at Applejack, who looked unsure about something.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof, Applejack said, "Well, um… I was just wondering if… maybe you should, uh, consider talkin' to Casey about what's happenin' over here."

To AJ's surprise, Stardust shook his head, and he replied, "That… wouldn't work, Applejack…"

He resumed writing out his plan, but the orange-yellow farm pony wasn't done talking just yet.

"Why not? He's helped us out before… and I seem to remember you two combining into one powerful pony that I'm pretty sure could beat the livin' hay out of Elixir."

"True, but there's no way that Casey would be able to get brought into this," muttered Stardust, who continued to write on the chalkboard while facing away from AJ. "He's not an option."

Unfortunately, Applejack was not going to give up, so she said, "Alright, Star, I don't know what you two said to each other that's making neither of y'all talk to the other pony, but I think it's gone on long enough, so-"

"Um, just wait a second, AJ," interrupted Twilight, who had noticed the two of them starting to argue. "Jack is only trying to-"

"Oh, don't you try to defend him now, Twilight," replied Applejack, who was now frowning. " _You_ were the one who told him in the first place to apologize to Casey. Why can't he do it _now_?"

 _Jack, it's not good to hold this in. You have to tell them._

Then, suddenly, Stardust stopped writing out his plan, and muttered, "Starswirl, I… no…"

 _If you don't do it now, I fear it will get much worse later on… just like with the Tirek incident… please, Jack…_

Applejack looked at her friend again, and she said, "Star, tell me one good reason why you can't just-"

"Because Casey is _dead_ , Applejack," said Stardust, finally looking at the pony who represented the element of honesty.

Instead of waiting to see what AJ's response would be, the young pony walked back to the lake, and looked down at the water, imagining again how Casey would have died.

* * *

" _Casey, please, you and Stardust are friends," said Twilight. "Hasn't this pointless feud gone on long enough?"_

 _The orange-colored Earth pony took another look at the Time Machine, which was set to travel into Stardust's world, and he said, "I… What would I even_ _ **say**_ _to him?"_

" _That you two obviously miss each other," replied Twilight, with a small smile. "Besides, the other me thinks that this has also gone on long enough."_

" _Of course," said Casey, letting out a chuckle. "Well, can you give me a moment alone, then? Just in case he happens to show up here first… and yes, I promise I won't get upset with him."_

 _Twilight rolled her eyes, but gave him a warm smile as she said, "Sure thing, Casey… I'm proud of you for doing this."_

 _Casey nodded his head, and so, once the alicorn princess had left, he began pacing back and forth, wondering exactly what he would tell Stardust._

 _Eventually, after he figured out what to say, Casey began to walk through the Crystal Mirror when, suddenly, he heard the sound of someone walking into the library._

" _Twilight, I told you that I could handle thi-" He started to say, but after the young pony turned around, Casey quickly realized that it wasn't his special somepony. "Can I help you?"_

" _Oh, you certainly can," replied Omega, and the last thing that Casey remembered was being struck by a powerful blast of electricity-_

* * *

 _SPLASH!_

"Pinkie! What was that for?" cried Twilight, and the party-loving pony gave her a shrug.

"I thought it would help make those lightning bolts around his body go away."

As Starlight helped Stardust out of the lake, Applejack said, "Star, why would you say that Casey was… _dead_?"

Seeing that everyone else was now looking at him, Stardust let out a sigh, and said, "Right before I could put a stop to Elixir's scheme, I was attacked by a cloaked and masked pony, who then told me that I looked the same way that Casey had before he had died… and that Casey had been hoping for me to save him, but… I didn't because… I was so… _stupid_!"

Then, to everyone's surprise, Stardust went back to the edge of the lake, and he angrily _swished_ his right hoof back and forth in the water, while none of his friends knew what to do or what to say.

A few minutes later, the young pony stopped what he was doing, and he found himself imagining a memory from the past.

* * *

" _Hey, Stardust?"_

 _The gold-colored pony turned to look at Casey, and replied, "Yeah?"_

" _Um… is there going to be a point in our lives when… we aren't going to see you anymore?"_

 _Stardust frowned, and said, "Why would you think about that?"_

" _Because it's happened before," muttered Casey, who now had a sad expression on his face. "You were gone for, like, a month… and I know that our worlds are pretty much basically the same… sort of, but-"_

 _He immediately stopped after Stardust had placed a hoof on his shoulder._

" _Casey, I'm not a perfect pony… hell, I'm technically not even a pony at all… but that doesn't mean I won't ever abandon my friends…"_

" _But… our worlds-"_

" _Yeah, so they're like 50/50 similar, so what? The only difference is that I don't have someone like you in my world, and you don't have someone like me in this world…"_

 _As Casey started to smile, Stardust added, "Also, if I end up being away for a long time, it's because I'm dealing with something else that's out of my control, or stuck in that damn world I hate so much… but not_ _ **once**_ _has it been because I did not want to come here._

" _You, Twilight, and everyone else here are just as important to me as my own friends back in my world... also, I might not be around for_ _ **everything**_ _in this world, but if it's important, then I promise that I will do my best to be there."_

" _Really?"_

" _Well, okay, it_ _ **won't be**_ _anything to do with Equestria Girls… I can barely handle what goes on with_ _ **my**_ _version of that world… but yes, I will be there… otherwise, I would have to deal with both Twilight and Starswirl… heck, probably even_ _ **your**_ _Twilight, too!"_

 _Casey laughed, and said, "Well, I don't know about that, but… I am glad to hear you say that, Star…"_

* * *

" _ **Jack?"**_

Stardust turned to look back at his friends, and everypony could see that tears were slowly starting to fall from his eyes.

"Why couldn't I save him?"

As Twilight walked over to her special somepony, his voice began to crack as he said, "I lost my friend Twilight… and I could have stopped this from happening if I… just…"

Once Twilight wrapped her hooves around Stardust, giving him a warm but tight hug, the young Earth pony found himself unable to hold his emotions in any longer, and he began to slowly break down into tears.

Eventually, everyone formed a group hug around the two of them, and they all started to shed tears, as well, for the loss of their friend…


	7. Equestria Bound, Part 1

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Chapter 7 - Equestria Bound, Part 1**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro._

 _Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and I own the story... also, the following song is owned by UMG [Universal Music Group]._

* * *

After Elixir had given his statement about Stardust, Omega waited a moment before saying, "That… is… ridiculous."

"What?" said Elixir, who started to frown since that was definitely not what he wanted to hear.

"You heard me, Nova," replied the cloaked pony. "We had a _deal_ … I help you take over Equestria, and you give her back to me. Killing Stardust was not part of that agreement."

His anger slowly starting to rise up, Elixir glared at Omega, and said, "Well, I can't take it over if someone like Stardust is in the way, now can I?"

"No, I… guess not…" muttered Omega, who continued to try and fix whatever was around his neck. "But you promised me that she wouldn't get hurt, so if she is any sort of pain-"

"I can assure you that she is fine, my friend," replied Elixir, who had a small smile on his face. "Once I see the death of Stardust right in front of me, you will know where she is… but until then, I have something else that I need you to do."

Omega let out a sigh, and he said, "Alright, what would that be?"

Elixir's grin widened more as he replied, "I want you to bring me Sunset Shimmer."

"For what?"

The dark-colored Earth Pony looked at the object that Omega had brought him, and said, "Now that I'm free from Celestia's imprisonment, I can resume my experimentation, and I have just the perfect thing in mind for my first test subject…"

Omega nodded his head, and walked out of the throne room while Elixir began to let out an evil laugh. " _Hahaha… hahahaha… hahahahaha!_ "

* * *

Once Stardust and the others had finished with their grieving over Casey's death (for now,anyway) it was finally time for them to discuss the plan to save Equestria.

"Alright, everypony, here's what I came up…" Stardust began to say, but he stopped after noticing that his friends were all looking a little nervous about something. "What?"

Applejack gave her friend a sheepish smile, and said, "Um, no offense to what you got written up on there, Star, but your plans tend to end with you… well, you know… like what happened with Casey, and…"

"We just don't want to lose _you_ again, darling," added Rarity, and everyone else nodded their head, agreeing with her, while Stardust started to frown.

"Not _all_ of my plans against villains have ended with the same result," replied Stardust, even though he had a feeling that he was wrong. "Give me an example."

Using the feathers on her wing as one would use fingers on a hand, Rainbow began to say the names of villains that, at one point, had almost been _too_ powerful for Stardust.

" _Chrysalis… Tirek… Sombra… Starlight… Rowan… Evil You…_ "

Before Stardust could respond to that, Pinkie suddenly raised her hoof, and cried, "Oh, and when you went to Sunset Shimmer's world for the Friendship Games!"

"Okay, _fine_ , I get it," muttered Stardust, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "Twilight, you take over from here."

Twilight chuckled, and she nodded her head as she walked over to the chalkboard. "Okay, so the ponies that we're going up against are Elixir, of course... Ronxor, who is probably his personal assistant… and Omega… now, like Jack mentioned earlier, they probably have already taken control of Canterlot and Ponyville, so it's up to us to stop them from doing the same to the rest of Equestria, and the one major advantage that we have is they all think Jack is dead."

"Um, how exactly is that an advantage, Twilight?" wondered Fluttershy.

"Because, like Rowan and Evil Me, they all think of me as the biggest threat to their _takeover_ scheme," explained the young pony. "And since they are under the assumption that I am dead, none of them will expect me to do what I plan on doing once we get to Canterlot."

While Fluttershy nodded her head, Rarity raised up her hoof, and she said, "There's something I don't understand, darling…. Who exactly is Omega? He must have some sort of secret identity if he's going through the trouble of covering himself up."

"I'm afraid I don't know just yet," admitted the young princess. "But it has to be someone that-"

"It's Rowan underneath that thing," said Stardust, to everyone's surprise.

 _That's a high assumption, Jack, considering the place where he was sent to by the other Pinkie Pie is not one that is easily escapable._

"Well, who else would have such a hatred towards Casey, me, and all of them?" pointed out Stardust. "It makes sense, especially after what Kronos told us… Rowan is back, and he wants revenge."

Then, in his mind, he added, _As do I… once I get my hooves on him for what he's done._

" _Ooh_ , does that mean we get to visit all of those other worlds again?" wondered Pinkie, and Stardust just gave her a confused look.

"You didn't go with us, Pinkie, that was the other one who went-"

" _Anyway…_ " said Twilight, who was actually not fond of remembering those particular events since they involved her having to see Stardust romantically kiss alternate versions of her friends. "Kronos said that it would take several days to get there, so after we all get a good night's rest, we should start making our way back home, and hopefully find a way that will get us to Equestria faster."

Applejack, who was looking at both her and Starlight, said, "Couldn't you two think of some kinda instant teleportation spell or somethin' to just _poof_ us all into Princess Celestia's castle?"

A look of uncertainty appeared on Twilight and Starlight's face, with the alicorn princess saying, "I don't think we can right now, AJ, especially since neither of us know exactly _where_ we are at… I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's alright, Twilight," replied Applejack, who then started to yawn. "But I agree with ya on the restin' part… good thing that Kronos fella gave us some comfortable sleeping bags."

"Oh, yeah, he's a real sweetheart," muttered Stardust, who had only gotten a pillow and a blanket from the elderly pony.

 _Will you have trouble with sleeping tonight?_ asked Starswirl.

"I hope not… otherwise, this is gonna be a long night."

* * *

 _A few hours later_

While everyone was sound asleep, Stardust was back at the lake, standing right in the middle of it.

Since he was unable to fall asleep, the young pony had decided to start practicing for his eventual confrontation against Omega.

 _Jack, I am not sure it is safe for you to-_

 _ **ZZZZZZZZTTTT!**_

 _SPLASH!_

After falling down into the water, Stardust let out a groan of frustration, and growled, "Why is it that every time I try to use my powers, those damn lightning bolts come back to shock the hell out of me?"

 _It would appear that Omega has found a way to stop you from fully using them._

"Oh, well, then that is just _peachy_ ," exclaimed Stardust, striking his hoof across the water. "How in the _[BEEP]_ am I supposed to kill-"

 _Come again?_

"You _heard_ me, Starswirl," said the frustrated Earth pony, as he sat down on the grass-covered land. "He has to pay for what he's done to Casey… to his Twilight… which reminds me… I need the communicator."

 _POOF!_

The hand-made wristwatch device that Casey had made for Stardust was now around his hoof, and Stardust quickly began to turn it on.

 _Are you sure about this, Jack?_

"I have to know how she's doing, Starswirl," said Stardust, who was almost done. "And I have to apologize…"

Then, once the device was activated, he waited for the sound that would go off once whoever was at the other end of the-

 _CLICK!_

"Twilight?" said Stardust, hoping that his friend was okay. "You there?"

"..."

"Twilight?"

"..."

The gold-colored pony continued to wait for a response, but all that he heard from the other end was silence.

 _Jack, I don't think that she-_

" _... Stardust?"_

Hearing the alicorn's voice after a long hour of silence caused Stardust to almost jump back in surprise.

"Twilight? Can you hear me?"

What he mostly heard now was static, but if Stardust could talk to her for just a moment…

" _... help... still… please?"_

 _CLICK!_

Suddenly, the line went dead, and as the communicator turned off, Stardust let out a sigh of disappointment, even though part of him was glad knowing that nothing dangerous had happened to the other Twilight.

"You havin' trouble sleepin' tonight, sugarcube?"

A somewhat tired Applejack was making his way over to him, and he said, "I just… got a lot on my mind, AJ… is Twilight awake, too?"

"Nope, just me," replied the apple-harvesting Earth Pony, who took a seat next to Stardust. "You need somepony to talk to?"

Stardust was about to politely say that he did not when he quickly realized that she probably knew what exactly he was going through.

"Actually… yes, now that you mention it," said the young pony. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, Star," replied Applejack, and the two of them smiled at each other before they started to have a conversation that eventually made Stardust feel a lot better than he had all day.

* * *

 _The next morning…_

"..."

" _Jack…"_

" _..."_

" _... wake up, Stardust!"_

A tired Stardust groaned underneath his breath, and muttered, "Just give me 5 more minutes, guys."

* * *

 _A few minutes later_

Letting out a yawn, Stardust stretched out his limbs, and he said, "Alright, let's start this… uh…"

The young pony had expected to wake up to the sight of Twilight, but instead, he saw that she and the others were all packed up and ready to start the 3-day-long journey to Equestria… and that he was currently floating over the lake, courtesy of a certain pony's magic.

"Good morning, Jack, glad you could join us," said the alicorn princess, giving him a cute smile, and Stardust found himself looking down at the water below him.

"Twilight, love… please don't do what I think you are about to do."

"Who, _me_?" said Twilight, sounding surprised. "Jack, why would you think I was the one holding you over the lake?"

Stardust smirked at his special somepony, and said, "Well, I mean, who _else_ could it-"

"Okay, Starlight, it's drop time," interrupted Rainbow Dash, and just as Stardust realized what was going on, Starlight released him from her magic, causing the young pony to fall into the lake.

"Come on, sleepyhead, Equestria is waitin' for us!" yelled Rainbow, who began to laugh while an irritated Stardust started to make his way towards them.

"Oh, I am _so_ going to get her back for this."

* * *

It had only been five minutes or so since they had left their camp-site when Fluttershy said, "Um, does anypony else beside me think that we're lost?"

Stardust shook his head, and replied, "Don't worry, Fluttershy, I'm positive that Canterlot is in _this_ direction, so… um, Pinkie, what are you doing?"

Everyone turned to look at their friend, who was floating in the air, and various parts of her body were either flapping or twitching, which could only mean one thing.

" _I think I feel a_ _ **song**_ _coming on!"_ sang Pinkie, and she began walking in front of Stardust and Twilight, with the human-turned-pony slapping his forehead with the front of his hoof.

"She's not really about to…"

 _Looking up at a sunny sky, so shiny and blue and there's a butterfly_

Applejack nodded her head, and said, "Yep, afraid so, sugarcube."

 _Well, isn't that a super fantastic sign  
It's going to be a fantastic day_

"I don't see how that works, Pinkie," said Stardust, while Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Jack, just let her enjoy this, okay?"

 _Such marvelousness  
It's gonna bring a pocket full of songs that I'm gonna sing_

"Oh, _wonderful_ , she has more stuff for us to hear," muttered Stardust, trying his best not to get scratched by some of the sharp-edged branches.

 _And I'm ready to take on anything_

 _Hooray!_

 _Some super fun surprise around each corner  
Just riding on a rainbow, I'm gonna be okay_

"Uh, Pinkie, could you get off of me, please?" asked the blue-colored Pegasus.

 _Hey!_  
 _I'm not giving up today_  
 _There's nothing getting in my way_  
 _And if you knock knock me over_  
 _I will get back up again_

When Stardust suddenly felt his hoof tapping along, he quickly stopped it, and shook his head.

"Nope, nope, not dancing to this…"

 _If something goes a little wrong  
Well you can go ahead and bring it on  
'Cause if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again  
Whoa oh oh oh, get back up again, whoa oh oh oh oh oh!_

"She's not done yet, is she?" muttered Stardust, and everypony else shook their head. "Lovely…"

 _I'm marching along I got confidence  
I'm cooler than a pack of peppermints  
And I haven't been this excited since  
I can't remember when!_

"Ugh, why do my hooves keep trying to tap along with her?" exclaimed Stardust.

"Jack, come on, this is _fun_... don't deny yourself this wonderful moment," said Twilight.

 _I'm off on this remarkable adventure_  
 _Just riding on a rainbow_

Rainbow groaned, and rolled her eyes as she cried, "I _told you_ to get off of me, Pinkie!"

 _Oh, yeah!_

 _I'm not giving up today  
There's nothing getting in my way_

 _And if you knock knock me over  
I will get back up again!_

"... and _there we go,_ " said Pinkie, who had a look that read _victory_ on her face. "We are all-"

"- still in the forest, darling," interrupted Rarity, letting out a sigh.

"Plus, that there is the same lake that Stardust's fell into, like, five times," pointed out Applejack.

Pinkie turned her head to look at the lake that she was referring to, and replied, _"Ohhhh… I thought it looked familiar."_

Stardust groaned, and face-palmed himself again, saying, "This is gonna be a _long_ day."


	8. Equestria Bound, Part 2

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 **Chapter 8 - Equestria Bound, Part 2**

 **Author's Note:** _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ _ **belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while**_ _Stardust Balance_ _ **is owned by the Warrior of Twilight.**_

* * *

Stepping through the Crystal Mirror, Sunset got down onto all fours, and began to look around the library.

"Hey, Stardust, I am so sorry I didn't get here sooner when I got your message, but I'm here now, so let's… um…"

The yellow-colored unicorn paused her sentence after seeing the book that Stardust uses to communicate with her was just left open on the table, with the human-turned-pony nowhere in sight.

"Star? Twilight? Everything okay?"

" _Glad you could make it, Sunset… it's been a while."_

Sunset turned around, and found herself looking at a cloaked Earth Pony that looked very familiar to her.

"Oh, hey, aren't you that one pony who-"

 _ **ZZZZZZZZZTTTT!**_

* * *

Stardust immediately stopped moving, and he found himself turning his head from left to right several times.

"Jack? What is it?" asked Twilight.

"I... thought I felt…" said Stardust, who began to frown in confusion. "I felt Sunset's presence or something… and it was almost as if she was in danger…"

The group of friends had _finally_ found their way out of the tropical forest, but as they walked in the direction that would lead them to Canterlot, no one could yet recognize _where_ exactly they were at, or how far (and long) it would be until they had returned to Equestria.

"I'm sure that Sunset is perfectly fine, Jack," assured Twilight. "Remember, Elixir wants to rule over _Equestria_ , not the world that Sunset and the others live in, so there's no reason for her to be involved in this."

Stardust nodded his head, choosing to take her word for it, but he still had that small feeling of his close friend being in possible danger.

 _If Omega ever got to her, I swear that I would just-_

"Okay, _one of us_ has to know where in the heck we are at," groaned Rainbow Dash, who was currently flying in the air. "All we have seen for the past few minutes is nothing but rocks, dirt, and even bigger rocks… at this rate, it'll take us _forever_ to get to Canterlot."

Pinkie stopped looking around, and replied, "Oh, I thought we were still going to Starlight's village."

"Why would we…?" The purple unicorn groaned, and she shook her head. "Do not question, Starlight, do not question…"

Stardust looked up at the winged Pegasus, and he said, "You _know_ that nopony here has any clue on where we are at, Rainbow, and your complaining isn't helping one bit with figuring it out."

The winged pegasus just grumbled in annoyance underneath her breath, while Stardust continued to think about Sunset.

 _You don't think they would-_

 _That is a possibility, Jack,_ said Starswirl. _But I, too, see no reason for Elixir to bring her into this if he only wants to rule over Equestria._

Stardust nodded his head, but as he continued walking, the young pony was promising himself that if anything happened to Sunset, there would be no one to hold him back for what he planned on doing to the cloaked pony.

* * *

" _Welcome back to Canterlot, my dear Sunset."_

The yellow-colored unicorn opened her eyes, and saw that she wasn't in Twilight's library anymore.

Instead, she was in some kind of laboratory, and she herself was strapped to a table that was currently placed in an upward position, allowing Sunset to see everything around her besides the ceiling.

" _I presume that you are curious as to where you are at?"_ said Omega, who stepped out of the shadows, and began to walk towards her.

Sunset frowned, and replied, "Sort of… but I'm more curious to know what Stardust thinks about you doing this."

"Why would I possibly care what he thinks?" answered Omega, whose face was being covered by only his hood. "That arrogant pony means nothing to me…"

Stardust's friend and pupil just gave him a confused look, and said, "I don't know why you are acting like this, but I'm willing to bet that Twilight-"

" _She and the others are no longer a factor in this situation, Sunset Shimmer."_

As Elixir made his appearance, Omega looked away from Sunset, and the dark-colored Earth pony said, "You can also forget about your precious teacher coming to the rescue… because he's dead."

For a moment, Sunset didn't say anything, but then, she shook her head, and replied, "No… I don't believe that."

Elixir chuckled, and shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Your loss, Shimmer… now, then, I think it's time for us to get this thing going."

"Get _what_ going?" asked Sunset, giving the sinister pony a suspicious look, and she also looked at Omega, but the cloaked pony continued to not look at her.

"Why, resuming my experimentation, of course," replied Elixir, who was starting to smile. "And you've been chosen as my first test subject."

Sunset smirked at the dark-colored pony, and she said, "You _do_ know that I'm able to use my magic to stop… _aaauugghh!_ "

Elixir was now using the tip of the Silver Staff to touch the tip of Sunset's horn, and she could feel nothing but pain.

As Omega slightly turned his head to see what was going on, Elixir waited a few more minutes before moving the staff away from Sunset, who now looked exhausted.

"What… what did you…"

"I did some… _altering_ to your precious unicorn magic," replied Elixir. "Now, for this next part of my experiment, I need you to be unconcious, so Omega, if you could, please…"

The cloaked pony looked over at Elixir, and asked, "Why not use the staff? It's capable of putting her to sleep without my assistance."

"Yes, probably… but I prefer using _agonizing_ _pain_ in my methods, so I will ask you again… please…"

Omega looked at Sunset, who tried to give him a pleading look, and the cloaked pony replied, "It would be _my pleasure._ "

Elixir nodded his head, and he began to walk away.

"Wonderful… I'll leave you to it, then."

Sunset and Omega were now looking at each other, and the young unicorn said, "Why… are you…"

"Because I have to, Sunset…" replied Omega, as he prepared to use his lightning energy. "And don't worry, you'll get used to this very quickly."

 _ **ZZZZZZZZZTTTTT!**_

* * *

Stardust groaned, and he brought a hoof to the side of his head, which Twilight quickly took notice of.

"Are you okay, Jack?"

Her special somepony nodded his head, and replied, "I just… _know_ that Sunset is in trouble, but… I can't tell if it's Omega trying to play a trick-"

" _Tweet-tweet! Tweet-tweet!"_ yelled Pinkie Pie, who was suddenly pointing at something that was coming towards them from behind.

"Is that… Gilda or… Gabby?" wondered Rainbow Dash, who was squinting her eyes to see if it would provide a better look. "Kinda looks like one of them."

Putting his worries aside, for a moment, Stardust looked up at whatever was heading their way, and he said, "Starswirl, what the heck-"

 _Jack, you all need to start running._

"Why do we need to-"

 _CAAAAWWW!_

Stardust's eyes went wide, and he cried, "That is one _big [BEEP] eagle_! How in the hell-"

 _Jack!_

"Oh, yeah, right… _run_!"

* * *

After his experiment was complete, the sinister pony had returned to the throne room, and a few minutes later, Omega came inside, asking about the wherabouts of Sunset.

"I sent her to go and find the princess of friendship, along with her friends," replied the black-colored pony. "If they somehow get passed my bird, then there's no way they can get past the _new_ Sunset Shimmer."

"A… _bird_?" said Omega, who was also wearing his mask again. "What do you mean a _bird_?"

"Well, technically, it's a _Caucasian Eagle_ ," admitted Elixir, who gave him a small shrug. "But all that matters is that it will happily tear those ponies apart... thanks to a few _altercations_ that I made to it."

* * *

As the group of friends continued to run, Rainbow yelled, " _Why is there a giant bird chasing us?_ "

" _How the [BEEP] should we know?!"_ exclaimed Stardust, and Twilight quickly glanced at him. "Hey, in this situation, cursing is acceptable!"

"Maybe Fluttershy can try talking to it," suggested Spike, who was currently sitting on Twilight's back.

Everyone looked at the yellow Pegasus pony, who turned her head in the direction of the giant eagle.

 _CAAAAWWWW!_

"I… don't think… I'll be of much help," replied Fluttershy, speaking with a high-pitched voice.

Preparing her magic, Starlight fired an energy blast at the winged creature, but all it did was cause the bird to let out a louder cry.

 _CAAAAWWWW!_

"Fluttershy, I know you're probably just as scared as the rest of us," said Applejack. "But you have to, at least, _try_ and find a way to get that bird to-"

"I'm not even sure if she can help… no offense, though, Fluttershy," interrupted Stardust, to the winged pony's relief. "But I have a feeling that - _whoa!_ "

Having decided to take an open opportunity, the giant eagle swooped down towards the group of ponies, and was now floating several feet above them, with Stardust's cloak in his beak.

"Hey, Tweety, you put me down _right now_!" shouted Stardust, and the bird responded by moving his head back and forth several times, causing Stardust to feel a little dizzy.

"Rainbow, let's go!"

Twilight and Rainbow quickly flew up towards the giant eagle, and took ahold of Stardust's front hooves in their own, trying to pull him out of the bird's grasp.

"Wait a sec, you two are going to make him-"

The winged creature began moving his head around again, and this made all three of the ponies feel some dizziness, but then, they heard the sound of fabric ripping, and after one more swift turn of the bird's head, he sent Twilight and Rainbowflying back to the rest of their friends while Stardust landed a few feet away from them.

"Thanks, love… and Rainbow, for…" Stardust started to say, but then, he noticed that his beloved cloak now looked like a cape, and he saw that the eagle had just finished swallowing the other half. "Oh, you've _[BEEP] up now, Tweety!"_

As the bird glared over at Stardust, the young pony's front hooves began to glow, and an energy orb was starting to form.

 _Jack, I highly disagree with what you're about to do!_

Stardust shook his head, and cried, _"Hey, in a moment like this, Starswirl, I_ _ **have**_ _to do it!"_

 _CAAAAAWWWW!_

The giant eagle flew straight for Stardust, who was waiting for the perfect chance to fire his _"Cutie Mark"_ energy blast.

"That's right, Tweety, you're about to turn into fried chicken!"

 _Jack, you don't know if the lightning bolt energy will-_

"I will be _fine,_ Starswirl, this isn't going to kill me!"

 _CAAAAWWWW!_

A sly grin appeared on Stardust's face, and he cried, "Okay, Tweety, it's cooking time!"

Then, once the bird was inches away from him, Stardust fired his energy blast, but when the blue lightning suddenly appeared, he said, "What the-"

 _BOOM!_

An explosion of dust and smoke was created, and everypony watched as the bird was sent flying high up into the sky, leaving a trail of black smoke behind.

"Where's Jack?" asked Twilight, who started to become worried. " _Jack! Where did you_ -"

" _I see him, Twilight, I got him!"_ yelled Pinkie, who suddenly ran straight past the alicorn princess, and she had her front hooves wide open, ready to catch her friend. " _Don't worry, Stardust, I won't miss-"_

 _ **THUD!**_

Pinkie quickly stopped running, and headed over to where a soot-covered Stardust had landed.

" _I got him, everypony_!" yelled the pink-colored pony, as she picked him up, and started to head back to the others.

" _Thank you, Pinkie…"_ muttered a non-amused Stardust.

* * *

Shaking his head, Omega began to walk out of the throne room, but then, he stopped after Elixir said, "Hold on a moment, my friend… there's something else I want you to do now."

From underneath his mask, the cloaked pony gritted his teeth in frustration, and said, "Hey, I am not your _servant_ , Elixir… that job goes to _Ronxor_ … so unless you tell me where she is, I'm not going to continue being your _errand pony_."

A laugh came out of Elixir's muzzle as he shook his head, saying, "I don't see you that way, Omega… or, in this case, _Rowan_ … this is actually something that will benefit you."

Before Omega could say anything, the doors to the throne room were opened, and Ronxor happily made his way inside, followed by…

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Omega, looking at a smiling Elixir.

Standing in front of them were the Mane 6 (except for Twilight), Spike, and Starlight, who were all chained up together, and had been taken from Casey's world.

"Alright, what in the hay is going on?" said Applejack. "Why are we here?"

The sinister pony chuckled, and said, "Since you already got your revenge on two of the ponies that ruined your life, I figured… why not do the same to the rest of them?"

"You mean that-"

"Indeed, I did," replied Elixir. "You already killed Casey, Rowan… why not do the same to his friends?"

Starlight's eyes became wide with shock, and she said, " _Rowan?_ But you're supposed to be-"

"How did you get out of the _Smile HD_ world that I sent you to?" exclaimed a surprised Pinkie. "This is impossible!"

While Ronxor started to grin evily at the cloaked pony, Elixir began to laugh, and he looked at Omega, saying, "Go ahead, my friend… _kill_ _ **all**_ _of them_."


	9. Equestria Bound, Part 3

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Chapter 9 - Bound for Equestria, Part 3**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ _ **belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro while**_ _Stardust Balance_ _ **belongs to the Warrior of Twilight.**_

* * *

Omega looked back and forth between Elixir and the group of Casey's friends, with the dark-colored pony said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on!"

"Have you gone soft, little pony?" taunted Ronxor, raising an eyebrow, and all of Casey's friends moved to the side. "I thought you were supposed to be an all-powerful…"

 _WHOOSH!_

Omega fired an energy blast at the silver Pegasus, causing him to crash through the nearest wall, and after a moment of silence, everyone heard him say, " _I... am… okay!"_

"Such a shame," muttered the cloaked pony, who then turned to face Elixir. "We had a _deal,_ Nova, and I don't appreciate the procastination that I'm seeing here all because you're worried about Twilight Sparkle and her friends putting an end to your rule that has barely even begun."

Pinkie tried her best to hold in her laughter after hearing him say that, and the rest of Casey's friends looked at her. "What?"

As for Elixir, he let out a sigh, and nodded his head. "You know what, I believe you are right, my friend… I might have taken you for granted, and I apologize… take Casey's friends to the prison ship."

"Ooh, that kind of sounds like fun!" squealed an excited Pinkie Pie.

From underneath his mask, the cloaked pony smirked, and replied, "Oh, yeah, it'll be a _blast._ "

Then, he started to lead them away, but stopped when Elixir added, " _However_ , you won't know where she is until I have Stardust's head on a platter right in front of me… is that clear?"

"As _crystal_ as the Crystal Empire," replied Omega, and he continued to lead Casey's friends away from the throne room.

"I still can't believe what you did to our friend," said Applejack, from Casey's world. "You'd better hope that Stardust or Twilight don't get their hooves on you."

Omega started to chuckle, and he looked at the young Earth pony, saying, "When it comes to me, AJ, Stardust will have _no idea_ what he will be up against… at this point, I am his most dangerous enemy… and if we meet again, I will make sure that he get what he deserves."

* * *

"You sure you don't want me to try and fix it, darling?"

Stardust chuckled, looking at his cloak-turned-cape, and he shook his head.

"Yes, Rarity, I'm sure… like I've said before, it's just a piece of fabric."

Thankfully, being chased from a giant eagle had led them all out of the "bare and empty" landscape area, and were now walking past several trees, as well as a few areas of water, but no one still had _any idea_ where they were at, or how farther it was until reaching Equestria.

"So… care to explain what happened back there, Jack?" asked Twilight.

"That a giant bird came from out of nowhere, and almost had me as breakfast?" replied the young pony. "Doesn't really sound like something that needs explaining."

The alicorn princess rolled her eyes at Stardust's sense of humor, and she said, "I was _talking about_ the energy blast you used against _'Tweety'..._ and about what happened in the forest with those lightning bolts."

"Oh… _that_ ," said Stardust, chuckling. "Well, um, some of the energy that was created when me and Casey became Starcade is still inside… of me, and I only use it when I have to.

"Also, whatever Omega's attack was… it causes those damn lightning bolts to appear whenever I try to use my balance powers, and I have no idea how to solve that problem."

Twilight playfully tapped the side of his head with her hoof, and said, "Not even Starswirl knows?"

 _Unfortunately, I do not… although I do recommend that he not use any more of your 'special' energy until we know how to fix the lightning problem._

Stardust just shook his head, and replied, "Nope, he doesn't know, either."

* * *

Applejack was the last of Casey's friends to be locked up, and as Omega closed her cell door, she said, "You know, I don't recall you bein' this nice to us back when you turned us all into statues, and locked us inside that giant cage with those girls from Sunset's world."

"You're delusional," replied the cloaked pony. "And besides, I have more important things on my mind to deal with… so, enjoy your new home."

He then started to walk away, but stopped after Applejack cried, "I guess you're still afraid of certain ponies, then, if you got to hide yourself from behind that mask of yours!"

Omega went back to the front of her cell, and before AJ could say anything, he quickly brought down his hood, as well as removing the metallic mask off of his face.

"You satisfied now?"

He waited a few more minutes until deciding to put it back on, and looked at the farming Earth Pony, who was in total shock and complete disbelief.

"But… _why_?" she said, once her mind was able to provide her with the right words to say.

After fixing his hood, the cloaked pony replied, "Why do you think, AJ? _Revenge… and payback…_ "

* * *

As everypony continued to walk, Twilight let out a sigh, and she said, "Um, since we've nearly spent this whole day walking… and running… maybe it's time for us to relax for the rest of the night."

" _Yes! Thank you!"_ All of her exhausted friends, including Stardust, immediately collapsed to the floor, and the young princess just rolled her eyes.

An hour or so later, their camp shelter was set up, and everypony was sitting around the campfire to keep warm since the temperature was starting to lower a little bit.

"You okay there, love?" said Stardust, who was noticing the sad expression on his girlfriend's face.

"I'm just a little worried about the rest of our friends back in Ponyville and Canterlot," replied Twilight, lowering her head a little bit. "And I am also hoping that they're all safe."

Rainbow gave her friend a warm smile, and said, "They'll all be fine, Twilight… besides, I think Elixir is more concerned about us stopping his plan than just-"

" _Aaaahhh!"_ screamed Pinkie Pie, who had been roasting several marshmallows on a stick, and was now trying to blow away the large flames that had engulfed them before they got too burnt. "It's okay, everypony, I saved them!"

Stardust started to laugh, and he began to shake his head, saying, "Bravo, Pinkie… bravo…"

A few minutes later, Twilight asked her special somepony if he still felt like Sunset was in danger.

"Not since I turned Tweety into fried chicken, but I'm not sure if that's good _or_ bad… I just hope she's okay."

The last thing that Stardust wanted was to find out that he'd lost another close friend…

Unfortunately, he had no idea that tomorrow would be a day when he'd have to fight that friend.


	10. A Fiery Sunset

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 10 - A Fiery Sunset_

 _Author's Note:_ _ **"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"**_ _belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, although at this point, I should probably be a co-owner_

 ** _[SB]_ Come again?**

 _Nothing, nothing... um, yeah, I just own the story... you can put that down now._

* * *

 _The next day_

" _Star,_ _ **please**_ _tell me you have_ _ **some**_ _idea as to where we're at now."_

Stardust sighed, and he replied, "Like I told everyone _earlier,_ Rainbow, I am now… _twelve percent_ sure that we're close to reaching Canterlot, but from here, I don't see any sign of it, so we just have to keep walking."

The winged Pegasus let out a groan, and muttered, "I wish everypony here had wings, and knew how to fly… we'd get there a _lot_ faster if - _wait a second_!"

She went over to hover by Twilight, with a wide smile, and said, "You could do that one spell when you tried to make us all alicorns!"

However, the alicorn princess frowned, and she shook her head, saying, "I don't think so, Rainbow… I learned my lesson after that, and the last thing we need is a repeat of those events."

"But you don't _have_ to use it on all of us!" replied Rainbow, who gestured her wing towards their friends. "Heck, it doesn't even _have_ to be that spell… just _poof_ some wings onto Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Starlight, and we'll get to Canterlot faster than you can say ' _Wonderbolt_ '!"

"Nothin' doing, Rainbow," said a frowning Applejack, who was disagreeing with her friend. "I'm fine just bein' the way I am, thank you very much… plus, I _want_ to be able to wear my hat."

"Ugh, so you'll have a horn on your head," said the winged pony. "You don't see Rarity or Starlight complaining!"

"Well, um, I actually don't want to be turned into an alicorn either," said Rarity, who had her own unpleasant experience that day she had been given wings. "Let's just leave that to Twilight."

Starlight nodded, in agreement, and Rainbow rolled her eyes, muttering, "Alright, _fine_ , let's all keep going at this pace… we'll _definitely_ reach Canterlot by nightfall."

"Just please relax, Rainbow, okay?" asked Twilight. "We should be almost there… and besides, what else could possibly go-"

" _Sunset Shimmer!"_ yelled Pinkie Pie, taking everyone by surprise, and they all saw that the yellow-colored unicorn was standing several feet away from them.

Twilight smiled at Stardust, and she said, "See, what did I tell you? Sunset looks perfectly fine to me… nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, yeah, alright," replied a chuckling Stardust, who was starting to feel a little relieved now that he saw her. " _Hey, Sunset, are you_ -"

 _BOOM!_

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Sunset had fired an energy blast at Stardust, while everyone else quickly moved out of the way.

 _That looked exactly like the one Jack used on Ronxor_ , thought Twilight. _But how did it come from her horn?_

" _Hey! What the heck was that for?"_ exclaimed Rainbow, glaring at Celestia's former pupil.

"It's my way of saying _'hello',_ and I'm about to do the same to- _oof_!"

Sunset was interrupted by the quick return of Stardust, who had taken a page out of Rainbow's book, and knocked himself into her with a powerful headbutt, sending Sunset to fly and tumble a few feet away.

"Now, you owe _me_ one, Rainbow," replied Stardust, smiling at the winged pony, and he turned his attention back to Sunset.

"Okay, what in the _[BEEP]_ was that for? You could've almost, sort-of-but-not-really killed me with that attack!"

Sunset let out a maniacal laugh, and she gave him an evil grin. "That was the point, you numbskull… now, do me a favor, and-"

 _Whoosh!_

She had fired another energy blast at Stardust, but luckily, Twilight had appeared in front of him, and created a powerful force field bubble around them that caused the blast to head up into the sky.

"So, now, I guess you owe _me_ one?" teased Twilight, and Stardust chuckled before giving his response.

"Oh, I bet I could think of something, love."

Then, the alicorn princess looked at her friend, and asked, "What's wrong with you, Sunset? Why are you attacking us like this?"

"Because I _can_ , Twilight," replied Sunset, whose horn was now surrounded by tiny sparks of blue electricity, and Stardust immediately took notice of this.

 _I_ _ **knew**_ _something was wrong! Omega must have-_

"Are you just going to hide behind Twilight this whole time, Jack?" taunted Sunset, with a sinister smile. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the pony versions of Flash and Timber would have already-"

"Oh, you've done _[BEEP]-ed_ up now, Shimmer," growled an annoyed Stardust, and he began to head straight for Sunset while creating another energy blast, much to Starswirl's irritation.

 _Jack! You're not ready yet to-_

 _ **ZZZZZZZTTTTT!**_

" _Omega figured you'd try that,"_ said Sunset, who was now attacking Stardust with the blue lightning bolts, and continued to do so as they came from her own.

"Sunset… this… is not… you… _aaaaaugghh!_ "

There were no words to describe the pain that Stardust was feeling right now, and he was quickly thinking of a way to make it stop.

 _Alright, where else have you seen lightning attacks, Jack? There has to be one that... oh!_

The gold-colored pony then tried to redirect the lightning at Sunset the same way that he would fire his energy blasts, and to his surprise, it actually worked!

 _Ha! That must make me a_

 _ **BOOM!**_

Unfortunately, it caused an explosion that sent only Stardust flying away, while Sunset merely stayed in the same spot, waving away the smoke with her hoof.

" _What… the… [BEEP]..."_ growled an annoyed Stardust, whose aching body was twitching in pain.

As for Sunset, she looked at Twilight, and a smile came across her muzzle. "Now, it's _your_ turn, princess!"

Taking a deep breath, Twilight began to prepare herself for a fight, but then, Stardust came racing towards Sunset, now looking very upset.

"You leave her out of this!"

Then, he delivered a spear to Sunset, causing her to fall down to the ground, and as he looked down at his friend, Stardust said, "You're making it _real hard_ to not beat the holy _[BEEP]_ out of you, Shimmer…"

"Such a shame, Stardust," replied Sunset. "Because I'm finding it _really easy_ to beat the holy _[BEEP]_ out of _you_!"

Before Stardust could say anything else to her, she swiftly grabbed ahold of him, and threw him towards the rest of his friends, causing all of them to fall to the ground.

"Like I said… it's _me_ and _you_ , Twilight."

* * *

A non-amused Omega entered the throne room, and said, "Look, Nova, for _the last time_ , I am not-"

"Just simmer down there, Rowan," replied a smiling Elixir, as he sat atop Celestia's throne. "I was able to find someone that I am positively certain you would want to see dead."

Omega raised an eyebrow, and he said, "Who?"

" _Let go… of me!"_

As the cloaked pony turned around, Elixir began to chuckle, and said, "Great job, Ronxor… and _you've_ certainly been through a lot, haven't you?"

His newest prisoner, who looked like she had gotten roughed up by somepony, frowned at the new ruler of Equestria, and replied, "You won't get away with this…"

"Well, then that's where you are _wrong_ ," said Elixir, whose eye-shaped device was starting to activate. "Because I already have… and now, it's time for you to go."

Omega quickly looked at the dark-colored pony, and said, "Nova, what the hell are you-"

"Like I said, my friend," replied Elixir, who was now creating an energy blast that was similar to the one Stardust used on him. "You'll really enjoy seeing this."

Then, before Omega could say anything else, Elixir fired his energy blast at the prisoner, and after the smoke cleared away, they all saw that she was now lying down on the ground.

"Now _that_ is what I call _power_ ," said Elixir, while Ronxor began to drag the body away. "So, what did you think of that, Rowan?"

It took a moment for Omega to look at Elixir, and give him a response.

"Wonderful, Nova… and now, I want to kill Stardust Balance even more, should he ever show his face again."

* * *

As the gold-colored pony laid on the ground, he muttered, "I am going to _[BEEP]_ that damn masked pony for all the pain that he's causing me."

At the same time, Twilight and Sunset were trying to avoid each other's attacks.

"You are so _predictable,_ Twilight," said the powerful unicorn. "Can't you ever try out something _new_ for once?"

A somewhat exhausted Twilight frowned, and said, "Sunset, this _isn't_ you! Whatever Omega did to you- _oof_!"

Sunset now had her pinned down to the ground, and she said, "I don't know who you're talking about, Twilight, but I am going to end this once and for all!"

The alicorn princess gulped, and she looked back and forth from Sunset to her friends, trying to think of a quick solution.

 _What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I… wait… something unexpected… that's it!_

Then, before Sunset could fire her attack at Twilight, she used her own magic blast against it, and from where he stood, Stardust watched as an explosion of dust and smoke was created.

" _Twilight!"_ cried the young pony, who hurried over to them as fast as he could, but due to the pain from the lightning strikes, it took him a while to get there.

Once he did, along with everypony else, they found a standing but exhausted Twilight, who was taking several deep breaths, and Stardust could have sworn that her face was a little redder than usual.

As for Sunset, she was lying on the ground, and slowly lifted her head up to look at Stardust.

"S-Star… w-what… h-how did… _ugh_ …"

 _She's exhausted,_ said Starswirl, as the gold-colored pony watched his friend become unconcious. _But she'll be fine._

 _Until she wakes up, anyway,_ replied Stardust. _Do you sense any 'I-want-to-kill' vibes inside her?_

 _Not like I did earlier when she was attacking you,_ said the elderly pony. _But I sense a lot of pain inside her… so I am guessing that Elixir must have done something to her._

"So, is she gonna try to kill us or…?" wondered Rainbow Dash, and Stardust shook his head.

"No, I don't think so, but let's take her to the nearest area of water before something worse happens."

Then, while they were doing that, Stardust looked at Twilight, and said, "That was awesome, love… your magic's gotten stronger over the years, hasn't it?"

" _Ha-ha, yep, that's true_ ," replied Twilight, although it was a little more high-pitched than usual.

At first, Stardust wondered if something was wrong with her, but after hearing Sunset moan in pain, he decided to worry about that another time.

 _You'd better be ready once we meet again, Omega, because I am going to [BEEP-BEEP-BEEP] you so badly that you'll wish you had never attacked my friends, and you are going to pay for what you did to Casey!_

At the same time, Twilight let out a sigh of relief, but then, Pinkie showed up next to her, and was giving the alicorn a suspicious look.

"What?"

Instead of saying anything, Pinkie simply began to walk to the back of the group, but before Twilight could sigh again, the pink pony reappeared, and they were almost eye-to-eye with each other.

"Pinkie? You okay?" said Stardust, who had noticed his friend suddenly appearing next to him.

"Just peachy, Star... _just peachy,_ " replied Pinkie, who slowly walked over to the back as she kept her eyes on Twilight, while the alicorn shrugged at her special somepony.


	11. A Sunlight Ship

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 11 - A Sunlight Ship_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and I own only the story._

"..."

" _Sunset?"_

"..."

" _... Shimmer?"_

"..."

" _Sunset!"_

After getting splashed with a little bit of water, the yellow-colored unicorn opened her eyes, and found herself looking at all of her friends.

"How are you feeling, darling?" asked Rarity, who was giving her a look of concern.

Sunset brought her hoof to her forehead, and said, "Like I've been in a car crash…"

Then, she looked around at where they were at, and asked, "Um, where are we exactly?"

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us," replied Stardust, who sounded a little disappointed. "Seeing as that you're the one who found us, and then, proceded with attacking me and Twilight."

"I…" Sunset turned her head from Stardust to Twilight, then back to Stardust, and all of a sudden, the memories of what had just happened hit her in the blink of an eye, which made the young unicorn feel ashamed at what she had done.

"Oh, my gosh, I… I'm so sorry, you two, I didn't mean to… Elixir told me to... that wasn't what I-"

Stardust chuckled, and he shook his head, assuring her that it was fine. "I've done the whole _mind control_ thing, Sunset, and… yeah, not a fan…"

"Neither was Casey when Evil You trapped him in that thing you called a _Poké Ball,"_ said Pinkie, and everyone but Sunset looked at her. "Oh, sorry…"

"Did I miss something?" asked Stardust's pupil, and the gold-colored Earth pony let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah… Casey, who was with us during that whole fiasco with my alternate self, was kiled by that masked pony who-"

Now Sunset was even more confused after hearing him say that, and she replied "But I could have sworn I… uh… never mind… sorry to hear about your friend, Star."

"Thank you, and I plan on doing so much _[BEEP]_ to Omega once I get my hooves on him…"

Sunset smirked at her friend, and said, "Well, thanks for saving me… guess that makes us even for when I-"

To her surprise, Stardust shook his head, and gestured his head over at Twilight. "If you wanna thank someone, thank her… she's the one who snapped you out of whatever dark magic thing that Elixir had on you."

"Oh, okay," replied Sunset, who gave the young princess a warm smile. "Thank you, Twilight… guess you've been working on your magic, huh?"

" _Uh-huh, sure, no problem, that's what friends are for,"_ said Twilight, speaking in a rather quick tone.

Stardust looked at her, and asked, "Uh, are you alright there, love?"

"Yeah, I'm totally fine, Jack, just a little, uh… _woozy_ from using all that magic to turn Sunset back to normal… which is what I did… you believe me, right?"

The young and confused Earth pony replied, "Er, well, I never said that I _didn't_ believe you, love, but I'm just glad that… um… Pinkie… what are you doing?"

The pink-colored pony was standing near Twilight again, much to everyone's confusion, and she had a suspicious look on her face.

"How do we know if you are still _you_ , Twilight?" asked Pinkie, while the alicorn started to feel a little nervous. "If that _is_ your real name."

Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend's behavior, and she said, "Stop actin' like that, sugarcube. Of course Twilight is still Twilight."

" _Well_ , we all thought Stardust was Stardust when all of those bad things were happening to you and Rarity and Rainbow," reminded Pinkie. "But that wasn't the truth at all, now was it?"

Stardust was about to give a response when he found himself thinking again about what Pinkie had just said, and when he turned to look at Twilight, his girlfriend asked, "What?"

"She… kind of has a point, strangely enough," replied Stardust, surprised that he was even saying those words. "I mean, all we saw was you firing that magic blast, causing an explosion to appear, and when we got there, you looked exhausted, with your face almost as red as an apple."

"That doesn't prove anything," said Twilight, who still looked nervous.

"Well, then, how did you save Sunset, huh?" questioned Pinkie, who was raising an eyebrow at her friend. "Cause we pretty much have no idea how you did that."

Before Twilight could respond, Stardust gently pushed Pinkie away from the alicorn, and he said, "I'm not saying that I think you're another Twilight, love, but I am getting curious as to how-"

" _I kissed Sunset, okay? That's how I saved her!"_

As soon as she said those words, Twilight brought her hooves up to her closed muzzle, and she immediately started blushing.

Stardust was now stunned, not knowing exactly what to say next, and Sunset found herself becoming red in the face, as well.

"Uh… say what?" asked Applejack, who was mostly confused.

Spike, Starlight, and the rest of the Mane 6 were all speechless… well, except for Pinkie Pie, who said, "Huh, I did _not think_ that she was going to say that."

* * *

 _Canterlot_

A few minutes after leaving the throne room, Ronxor was now on his way back to the prison ship, but he stopped walking after sensing that someone was nearby.

"Anything I can help you with, Omega?" asked the silver Pegasus, turning around to look at the cloaked pony. "I have things to do, you know."

"So do I, you numbskull," replied Omega, who sounded upset with him. "But before I do those things, I am warning you _right now_ to leave the rest of Casey's friends alone… if you know what's good for you."

Ronxor raised an eyebrow, and said, "Why do you care about those ponies? They _are_ the ones who trapped you in limbo after your Crystal Empire plan got screwed up-"

"It's none of _your damn concern_ as to why I care about them," growled a frustrated Omega, who was now staring down at the winged pony. "So listen to what I am saying… leave them _alone_ , or else I'm going to suggest _you_ as the next lab rat for one of Elixir's experiments. _We clear on that_?"

Ronxor did a small gulp, remembering being thrown right through a wall, and quickly nodded his head.

"S-sure thing, Omega… my apologies."

Then, he began to run away from the cloaked pony since he did _not_ want to get hurt by Omega for a _third time_ , and once he was gone, Omega nodded his head.

"Now that I've dealt with him, I can focus on using my _actual_ powers against Stardust… and there is _no way_ that he's going to stop me from what _I_ have to do."

* * *

 _As Sunset began to prepare an energy blast that would come from her horn, Twilight was quickly thinking of a way to solve this dilemna._

 _ **What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I… wait, something unexpected… that's it!**_

 _Once she knew what she was going to do, Twilight fired her own energy blast, but aimed it at the nearby ground instead of Sunset herself, and this caused them to be surrounded by smoke and dust._

 _ **Alright… here goes nothing!**_

 _Then, with a quick lift of her head, Twilight also closed her eyes as she delivered a kiss to her friend's muzzle._

" _..."_

 _ **Please work, please work, please work!**_

" _..."_

 _Ten seconds later, Sunset's horn stopped sending out little sparks of electricity, and as her eyelids began to close, the young unicorn collapsed to the ground while Twilight let out a heavy sigh of relief._

* * *

" _... and that's when you showed up,"_ said Twilight, finishing up her explanation of how she had saved Sunset from Elixir's spell.

Stardust was still stunned, and everyone else was looking at a blushing Sunset, who still had no idea what to say.

"Jack? Please say something… _anything_ …"

Her special somepony blinked his eyes a few times, and then, with a cheeky smile, he replied, "That was… probably… one of the hottest things you've ever done since we became a couple, love."

At first, Twilight didn't respond to Stardust, but then, he started to laugh, as did Rainbow, and the alicorn princess rolled her eyes. "You're unbelievable, Jack."

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal," chuckled Stardust, who couldn't help himself. "But I sort-of figured this would happen eventually… I mean, now I know why that one song played in the mall that one day."

Sunset's blush grew deeper, while Starlight began to turn a little pink, and Twilight delivered a soft punch to Stardust's shoulder. "Knock it off."

"Alright, fine, I'm sorry," replied Stardust, nodding his head, and he spoke in a serious tone. "My apologies, love…"

Then, his smile quickly returned, and the young pony asked, "So, who decides to pick me as the best mare? You or Sunset?"

Rainbow started to laugh again, while Twilight rolled her eyes, and she said, "I am… so sorry, Sunset…"

"N-no, I get it, don't worry," replied the yellow-colored unicorn, with both of them still blushing.

However, Stardust had just one more thing to say regarding Twilight's kiss with Sunset.

"Who's better, love? Me or her?"

Rainbow's laughter started to increase, and Stardust eventually felt himself wanting to laugh, as well.

"It wasn't _that_ kind of kiss, Jack," replied the young princess. "So, I can't really answer that…"

But then, she quickly looked at Sunset, and said, "Not that I'm saying _you're_ a bad kisser or anything, but we didn't actually… like when I kiss him… so I can't really compare-"

" _Hahahahahaha!"_ laughed Rainbow and Stardust, as well as Spike, who couldn't help himself, while the rest of their friends were beginning to chuckle and giggle.

Twilight frowned at Stardust, with an unamused facial expression, and once he stopped laughing, the young pony said, "Okay, I'm done… sorry, love, I know why you had to do that… besides, I'm sure that we are all going to laugh at this one future day when we look back on what happened in the past."

" _Uh-huh,"_ replied Twilight, who was now a little annoyed and embarassed. "So… um, Sunset… are you able to remember _how long_ it took you to get from Canterlot to here?"

Glad that she was hearing the subject being changed, Sunset said, "I'd say by tomorrow afternoon, we should all able to reach the castle…"

 _Perfect,_ thought Stardust, who nodded his head. _The sooner we get there, the sooner I get to take on Omega._


	12. Missing a Friend

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 12 - Missing a Friend_

 _Author's Note:_ _ **"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"**_ _belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while_ _ **Stardust Balance**_ _belongs to the Warrior of Twilight. I just own the stor-_

 _ **[SB]**_ _Hey, wait a second! How come none of my theme songs are in this story?_

 _[Me] For the umpteenth time, Star, it's because this is_ _ **my**_ _story, and not "A Journey Beyond Sanity"... anyway, enjoy the chapter, everyone!_

 _ **[SB]**_ _I'm getting paid for this, right?_

* * *

A few hours after Twilight told everyone about her way of saving Sunset, the group of friends continued on their quest back to Canterlot.

"You mean that Omega wasn't wearing his mask when you saw him? What did he look like?"

Sunset gave her alicorn friend a small shrug, and she replied, "I don't remember… it was like, for a moment, he couldn't bear to see what Elixir would do, and… it's all just so confusing."

As for Stardust, he was continuing to think about Casey, and found himself having a flashback to when they'd been spending some quality time together prior to the day of their race.

* * *

" _So you haven't gone through any sort of side-effects since we became Starcade?"_

 _Stardust shook his head, and replied, "Nope, not really."_

 _The two friends were currently inside Stardust's room, and he was introducing Casey to the joy and wonder of playing video-games, but it was taking him a while to get the hang of it._

" _Well, can I ask you something else?"_

 _Setting down the controller, Stardust took a quick sip from a Coke bottle, and he said, "Be my guest, pal…"_

 _Casey took a moment to think of what his words would be exactly._

" _Why are we still friends?"_

 _A confused Stardust began to frown, and he replied, "What do you mean by that?"_

" _Well… I mean, look at what's happened ever since the day that we met," explained the orange-yellow Earth pony. "Rowan tried to permanently erase all of your alternate selves from existince… he even went back in time to a certain day in your past to kill you!_

" _Plus, because of all that world-traveling we did, it caused the Equestria Girls version of you to come into your world, and pretty much screw up your life so that he could take it from you… I mean, you could have just-"_

 _Suddenly, he stopped talking after seeing that Stardust had raised his hoof, and the gold-colored pony said, "Just relax for a moment, Casey… now, believe it or not, being your friend was not exactly my first choice-"_

" _No, I believe it," replied the young pony, and he tapped the side of his skull. "I_ _ **do**_ _have some of you in me, remember?"_

" _For the time being, yes, but what I meant was that it took two certain ponies to actually convince me to try and be your friend that day I returned your necklace."_

 _When Casey asked him who they were, Stardust chuckled, and said, "Well, let me tell you what happened_ _ **before**_ _I went to your world…"_

* * *

 _ **[Flashback - takes place in "A Race Against Time"]**_

 _ **After making some final adjustments to the Crystal Mirror time machine, Twilight looked at her special somepony, and said, "Okay, Jack, it's ready for you!"**_

 _ **However, to her non-surprise, Stardust was shaking his head. "No, no,**_ no… _**I have done enough traveling through time and space, love, and I am not making an occasion for just a regular pony."**_

 _ **Twilight rolled her eyes, and she replied, "Come on, Jack, you know it's the right thing to do… plus, it's always fun to make a new friend, so-"**_

" _ **Say what?" interrupted a surprised Stardust. "Who said I was gonna be his friend? All that needs to be done is to return him his necklace… nothing else."**_

 _ **But Twilight was not going to give up so easily. "Just give him a chance, Jack… he seemed like a really nice pony."**_

" _ **You're just saying that because he saw you first," muttered the stubborn pony.**_

 _I don't see any problem with this._

" _ **Oh, not**_ _you,_ _ **too, Starswirl," said a slightly-annoyed Stardust. "Why is being his friend so important?"**_

 _Because Twilight and I have encouraged you to make new friendships… and yes, although it appears that Casey comes from a parallel version of Equestria, there's no reason why he doesn't deserve a chance._

 _ **Before Stardust could continue arguing with him, Twilight handed him the turtle-dove necklace that belonged to Casey, and a warm smile was on her face.**_

" _ **I… this… why… oh,**_ _fine_ _ **," said Stardust, letting out a sigh. "But if I find one thing that I don't like about him, love, I am going to come straight back here, and**_ _never_ _ **visit his world again… okay?"**_

" _ **Yes, Jack, I understand… now, go on," replied Twilight, who actually had a pretty good feeling about this.**_

 _ **Unable to think of anything else to say, Stardust nodded his head, and stepped through the Crystal Mirror.**_

 _Whoosh!_

 _ **A few seconds later, he was lying on the ground, and he muttered, "I'm never going to get used to that."**_

 _ **Once the feeling of dizziness went away, Stardust found himself looking at the owner of the necklace that was in his hoof.**_

" _ **Ah, hello again, Casey… I believe that this necklace belongs to you."**_

* * *

 _ **[End of flashback]**_

 _For some reason, Stardust now had his hoof on his forehead, and Casey asked, "You okay?"_

" _Yeah, I just… it felt like I was having an 'Inception' moment right now."_

 _Casey just gave him a confused look._

" _It's when you dream in a dream that has you dreaming… eh, never mind, not important," replied Stardust, shaking his head a little before he continued to give his explanation._

" _Now, yes, even though I would prefer_ _ **not**_ **to die** _almost every damn day of the week, I'm used to stuff like this happening… besides, if spending time with you gets me away from having to be in Sunset's world-"_

 _Casey started to laugh, and said, "You seriously_ _ **do not**_ _like being there, do you?"_

 _Stardust looked at his friend, and replied, "I enjoy that world as much as one would enjoy gargling a box of nails."_

" _Oh…" said Casey. "Wow… no wonder your other self wanted to kill you."_

* * *

After noticing how quiet her special somepony was being right now, Twilight asked, "Are you thinking about him?"

"Yeah…" replied Stardust, letting out a sigh, and he had a look of regret on his face. "I never should have argued with him in the first place."

* * *

 _[Canterlot]_

"I am assuming that you have good news for me, Ronxor?" asked Elixir, as he sat on Celestia's throne.

The silver Pegasus did a nervous gulp, and he replied, "Well, um… not exactly, sire."

Elixir's smile went away, and he raised an eyebrow at his long-time companion. "Oh? What's wrong, then?"

"Well, um… it appears that Twilight and her friends were able to get past the bird, and Sunset has yet to return… so I fear that they'll be arriving here very soon."

After Ronxor finished his sentence, Elixir remained silent, and then, to his suprise, the dark-colored pony started laughing.

"Um… I don't quite see the humor in this, sire."

Elixir's smile returned, and he shook his head, saying, "This is nothing to be worried about, Ronxor… Twilight Sparkle is just a princess, she and her friends are powerless against me, and there's nopony else in this world that is going to stop me!"

* * *

Inside of his room, an unmasked Omega was looking at the two objects that were on his desk.

One of them was a turtle-dove necklace, and the other one was Applejack's hat.

" _That's right, Stardust,"_ growled the cloaked pony. " _Try and be the hero that you think you are…"_

 _ **ZZZZZZZZTTTTTT!**_

Blue electricity started to fly all across the room, and a sinister smile appeared on his face.

" _You think you know me? Well, then… I guess we'll find out soon enough."_


	13. A Shocking Reveal

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Chapter 13 - A Shocking Reveal**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ _ **belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while**_ _Stardust Balance_ _ **belongs to the Warrior of Twilight.**_

* * *

Just like Sunset had told Twilight, the group of friends were able to reach Canterlot around evening time the next day.

"Well, it's _about time_ ," said Rainbow, letting out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought it'd be forever until we saw a place that was recognizable."

Stardust would have said something similar, as well, but he was too busy looking at what was floating above the royal castle.

" _What… the [BEEP]... is that?"_

Everyone turned their heads in the direction that he was pointing his hoof at, and Pinkie tilted her head to the side, saying, "That's reminding me of something, but I don't know what exactly…"

"I'm getting a _District 9_ vibe right now," said Stardust, talking to himself, and he looked over at Sunset. "That seem familiar to you?"

"No, but I do remember Elixir saying something about a prison ship," replied the young unicorn, going through her recent memories. "So I'm thinking that's it right there."

Stardust looked back and forth between the castle and Elixir's ship, and he shook his head, letting out a disappointed sigh. "On the day that Celestia and Luna don't get captured-"

Suddenly, he brought his attention back to the castle, having sensed something _very familiar_ , and Twilight took notice of this.

"Jack? What is it?"

For a moment, Stardust did not answer, and then, the gold-colored Earth Pony said, "Nothing, love… you remember the plan, right?"

Twilight nodded, but she had a concerned facial expression, as if she was worried about him.

"Are you sure you that this plan-"

" _Yes_ , Twilight, I am positive it will work," replied Stardust, giving her an amused smile. "I go in and look for Omega, while you all head up in _that_ thing to free everyone they've captured… then we'll all take on Alexa and his sidekick since they'll be completely out-"

However, before he could finish talking, Pinkie appeared next to Stardust, and she cried, " _Ooh, wait,_ I want to go with Star!"

Everyone was now staring at her, not sure on how to respond, and the pink pony exclaimed, "I mean, come on, he fought monsters and all that stuff with Twilight, Rarity, Sunset, Casey… now _I_ wanna do something like that!"

Twilight was about to deny her request, but then, she remembered all of the teasing that Stardust had done earlier, so with a sly smile, the alicorn princess replied, "I think you're right, Pinkie… but you're gonna have to ask him."

Stardust frowned at his girlfriend, but before he could say _"no"_ or anything else like that, Pinkie looked back at him, and she began to bounce up and down repeatedly. " _So can I go? Can I go? Can I go?"_

Everyone was now looking at Stardust, who rolled his eyes since he knew what this would eventually lead to, compared to previous events.

"Okay, _fine_ , Pinkie… just try not to - _whoa_!"

" _Yippie!"_ Grabbing onto her friend's hoof, the 4th-wall breaking pony hurried over to the castle while a smirked Twilight shook her head in amusement before leading the others closer to Elixir's ship.

* * *

 _A few minutes later_

As they hid behind the side of a building, Stardust and Pinkie looked at what was in front of them.

"Is that supposed to be a new type of armor for them?" wondered Pinkie, referring to the two ponies that were currently guarding the castle.

"I don't think so," replied a frowning Stardust. "Looks like Elixir - no, that Ronxor pony made his master some… robotic pony servants, and I'm guessing those two were assigned guard duty."

Pinkie nodded her head, and then, she asked, "Is that a _good_ thing or a _bad_ thing?"

Stardust gestured his head toward the robo-ponies, and replied, "Depends if those two were built with intelligence or without a brain."

Pinkie made a face of disgust, and said, " _Blegh_ , who'd want to touch a pony's brain?"

"Tell that to Dr. Frankenstein," muttered Stardust, who now knew exactly how to deal with the guards. "Okay, Pinkie, you wait right here while I… Pinkie?"

The pink-colored pony was no longer next to him, and when Stardust turned back around, he saw that Pinkie was bouncing her way towards Elixir's robo-ponies, which made Stardust bring a hoof to his forehead.

"Why did I agree to this, Starswirl?"

 _Because she's one of your closest friends._

Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "It was a rhetorical question..."

* * *

Since there wasn't any type of ladder or anything on the side of Elixir's ship, Twilight and Rainbow, along with Fluttershy, had to make their way in via flight.

As for the others, Applejack was brought on by Fluttershy, Rarity had gone with Rainbow, and Spike had travled with Twilight, while Sunset and Starlight used their magic to levitate themselves up to enter the spaceship.

Once they were all inside, Twilight said, "Okay, eveypony, let's find a way to… _whoa_ …"

The inside of Elixir's ship was similar to that of a maxium security prison, with three floors of cells, and the fourth floor was where the ship's flight controls were at.

"He's captured almost everypony we know," said Applejack, walking around the ship, and she stopped in front of a cell that was holding Applebloom. "They don't look like they got hurt or anythin', but…"

"Why are they all sleeping?" finished Rarity, who was standing by Sweetie Bell's cell, and she knocked her hoof against the glass several times, but her young sister didn't move or respond.

Twilight, who was standing in front of a cell that contained one of her closest friends, Moondancer, replied, "Elixir must have them under some kind of 'deep sleep' spell… there has to be a way, though, to wake them up."

"You could try kissing them," teased Rainbow, and this made Twilight give her an annoyed glare. "What? I was joking!"

As she stood by Trixie's cell, Starlight was about to fire an energy blast of her magic when Sunset stopped her by saying, "Let's wait on using that… we wouldn't want her to get hurt by the glass."

"Oh, yeah, right, sorry," apologized Starlight, and she went over to join Twilight, who was now in front of a cell that contained Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and their alicorn baby named Flurry Heart. "Any idea on how to open them?"

"Um… well… I'm working on it," replied Twilight, who currently had no idea as to how they could possibly-

" _Hey, Twilight? You might want to take a look at this!"_

The two of them went up to the third floor, and hurried down the hall until they saw Spike, who was standing in front a cell that was built different than the other ones, with the door being one that could be opened by a key.

"Do you think Luna or Celestia would be in there?" wondered Starlight.

As she powered up her horn, a determined Twilight replied, "We're about to find out."

" _ **Well, what a surprise… welcome back, princess."**_

The three friends turned around, and found themselves looking at a smiling Elixir, who was currently wielding one of his gun-shaped weapons.

" _ **Oh, and don't worry, this will only hurt for a few seconds…"**_

 _ **ZZZZZZZZTTTT!**_

* * *

Once the two guards had caught sight of an approaching Pinkie Pie, they both got into a fighting position, and one of them said, _"State your business, pink pony!"_

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie," greeted the party-loving pony. "You want to play a game?"

"A… game?" said the other guard, and he looked at his partner. "Um… sure, okay…"

From his hiding spot, Stardust let out a sigh, and said, "Yup, they're the stupid ones."

As for Pinkie, she gave them a sweet smile, and replied, "Great! So, I'm going to say a word like _'Apple core',_ and you two will say…?"

The two robo-ponies looked at each other, and they both replied, "Um… Baltimore?"

"Awesome!" cried Pinkie. "Now, one more thing… who's your friend?"

Both of the guards smiled as they pointed at themselves, and said, _"Me!"_

However, they quickly realized what was going to happen, and angrily cried, _"Hey…"_

" _Aaaaaannnnd, here's your prize!"_ exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who then began swinging multiple apple cores at the two guards.

 _WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!_

This continued on for a few more minutes, and once Pinkie was satisfied, she stopped throwing them, and said, "Okay, Stardust, coast is clear!"

The guards were now buried under a large pile of red-and-green apple cores, and once Stardust was standing by his friend, he said, "Good job, Pinkie… but where did all of these come from?"

"From _me,_ silly," replied Pinkie, who was now munching on a red apple, which was then handed to Stardust after it was finished, and she began to walk into the castle. "Let's go find that evil magic pony!"

Stardust just laughed queitly, to himself, as he followed the pony "who must never be questioned" inside, and they began to walk in the direction of the throne room.

However, before Pinkie walked through the doors, Stardust placed his hoof in front of her, and said, "Hold on, you'd better let me go first… I have a feeling that Omega's in there, waiting for me."

"But how would you… _oh, yeah_ , your _balance powers_ ," replied Pinkie, nodding her head as she went behind him. "You know, sometimes, I wonder what I'd be like if _I_ had what you have."

Stardust was quiet, for a moment, before he said, "I think you're fine just the way you are, Pinkie."

"Well, thank you, Star," replied a happy Pinkie, and Stardust chuckled before he continued walking up to the doors.

Then, he entered the throne room, and just as he'd suspected, Omega was inside, sitting on top of Celestia's throne.

 _Be careful, Jack,_ warned Starswirl, and the young pony nodded his head before walking over to the cloak-and-mask-wearing pony.

"You know, usually, I would give my own remark about dying multiple times, but I'll save that for Alexa," said Stardust. "You knew I was still alive, didn't you?"

Omega chuckled, and he replied, "Of course, I knew… I know you more than _Elixir_ thinks he does, and I-"

"Oh, yeah, you're definitely smarter than you look," said Stardust, in agreement. "Now what should I call _you_ : Omega or _Rowan_?"

The cloaked pony didn't respond to him right away, so Stardust continued to talk.

"I don't know how you got out of that world you were banished to, and frankly, I don't care… but what I _do know_ is that I will _[BEEP]_ you up for what you did to Casey."

Omega let out a laugh, and he replied, "You're very amusing, Star- _[BEEP]..._ it almost makes me not want to hurt you as bad as I did before."

Noticing the tiny sparks of blue lightning surrounding his enemy's hooves, Stardust said, "Well, thanks to Sunset, I know now what to expect if you try using that method again, so I'm afraid the result won't be like what you hoped."

"I see…" said Omega, who was now standing in front of Celestia's throne. "So, what are you waiting for, then? An invitation?"

A sly grin appeared on Stardust's face, and he was about to give his own sarcastic remark when, all of a sudden, he froze in place after sensing something terrible.

 _My friends! The ship! Twilight!_

* * *

Every one of Stardust's friends inside the ship was unconcious, except for the princess of friendship, who was still standing in front of the mysterious door.

"Who's in here, Elixir?" exclaimed Twilight, glaring at the sinister pony. "I'll still open it, whether you tell me or not!"

Elixir smirked at her, and he replied, "Go ahead, your highness… before we return to the castle… in fact, you might be surprised."

At first, Twilight was already surprised since she didn't expect him to say that, but she quickly went back into defense mode, and said, "Oh, I'm about to…"

So, while Elixir watched in silence, Twilight turned around to use her magic on the doorknob in front of her, and after hearing a _click_ noise, the door opened to reveal the bruised and battered prisoner that was inside the room.

"Well, your highness?" asked the dark-colored pony. "Who do you see?"

A surprised Twilight found herself speechless, for a moment, before she said, "What… why… it's…"

* * *

"Cat got your tongue, Jack?" asked Omega, who was smirking at Stardust from underneath his mask

"Only Twilight gets to call me by that name," replied the former human being, who was starting to lose his patience with the cloaked pony. "If I find out that something happened to her-"

Omega chuckled, and he said, "You can't do anything to me, Jack… I can sense it… your powers are still supressed, thanks to my lightning attack… and you can only have so many _special_ energy blasts until there's none left… so what _exactly_ do you plan to do?"

At first, Stardust didn't give a response, but then, he started to glow, and that only made Omega laugh.

"Did you not listen to me? You cannot reach your full power because-"

" _Oh, I heard you, a-hole,"_ said a smiling Stardust, who was now holding something in his hoof. _"This is only_ _ **half**_ _of my 'full power'... and right now, I'm doing what Pinkie Pie would sort-of do."_

Then, before Omega could say anything else, Stardust used as much strength as he could without being electrocuted to throw the red apple core at his opponent, causing him to fall back into Celestia's throne, which then toppled over backwards before eventually crashing down to the ground.

 _I'm not sure if Celestia would appreciate that._

Stardust shrugged his shoulders, and muttered, "Eh, I'm technically saving her, so-"

" _That was cool, Star!"_ called out Pinkie, who was standing by the entrance. _"But I would've thrown more than that!"_

" _I know, Pinkie, that's why I added the sort-of,"_ replied Stardust, and he started walking over to the fallen Omega. _"As for_ _ **you,**_ _a-hole, I want to see just the way_ _ **you'll**_ _look before I kill you, so…"_

With the hood already off of his head, Stardust swiftly removed the helmet-shaped mask, and once he saw Omega's face, the gold pony's expression went from anger and determination to complete shock.

"That… what… how…"

As Stardust dropped the mask onto the floor, Pinkie walked over to join her friend, saying, "Hey, are you oka… wow, you beat him!"

When Omega began to stand back up, Pinkie added, "Wow, he looks like Casey!"

"That's because I _am_ Casey," replied the cloaked pony, whose hooves were now ready to unleash the blue-colored lightning. "And it's time for you two to go to sleep!"

 _ **ZZZZZZZZTTTTT!**_

* * *

Twilight looked back at Elixir, and she asked, "What did you do to her?"

A smirk appeared on the sinister pony's face, and he replied, "That's nothing… compared to what I'm about to do to you."


	14. Broken Friendship, Part 1

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _ **Chapter 14 - Broken Friendship, Part 1**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ _ **belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while**_ _Stardust Balance_ _ **was created by the Warrior of Twilight.**_

* * *

 _Why?_

That was the question that Stardust kept repeating in his head after he was no longer unconcious.

He was no longer inside of the throne room; instead, the gold-colored pony was in some sort of dungeon-like cell that he figured was somewhere in the underground part of the castle.

His hooves were chained to the wall, so Stardust could only walk up to the middle of the room before the chains brought him to a stop.

To his relief, Pinkie Pie was also in there with him, but she was still unconcious, and for a moment, Stardust grew worried about her.

" _Your friend will be fine, Star… but it'll be a while before she wakes up."_

Casey stepped out of the shadows, no longer wearing his mask, but right now, Stardust didn't seem to care.

" _Why_?"

The young pony smirked at him, and he replied, "Come on, Star, you're smart enough to figure it out."

As he spoke, Casey's eyes started to shine very dangerously, and Stardust remembered the last time he'd seen them that way.

"The energy ball that Evil Me trapped you in… but how-"

Casey chuckled, and replied, "Well, it appears that I had another side-effect, similar to how you can still use your energy blast from time to time… however, _I_ am the one in control of my own actions, which means that I had no problem hurting you with my new lightning attack."

"But _why_ , Casey?" asked Stardust, glaring at the pony who had been his friend. "I mean, I spent these last few days thinking you were dead, and to find out that it was you who-"

"I don't care about the tears you shed for me," replied the cloaked pony, frowning at Stardust. "And to answer your question, I'm doing this for _her_."

A look of confusion and anger was on Stardust's face as he said, _"Who?"_

However, instead of answering, Casey simply began to walk away from him, and that made Stardust yell, " _How could you do this to Twilight?!"_

When Casey stopped moving, Stardust knew that he'd gotten to him, so he continued to speak.

"I _told you_ that the most important thing in your life was keeping your version of Twilight happy, Casey, so explain to me how in the _[BEEP]_ does this-"

"Are you _that clueless_ , you stubborn numbskull?" growled an angered Casey. "Why the _[BEEP]_ do you think I've kept you alive this entire time?"

Stardust was about to yell out his response, but Casey left before he had a chance to speak, and that just left him wondering what he was missing.

* * *

 _The Throne Room_

With his _Omega_ mask back on, Casey entered the room, and saw Elixir standing by the rubble of Celestia's throne.

"I see that you were busy," said the sinister pony, with a chuckle.

Instead of speaking, Casey just scoffed at Elixir, and tossed what was left of Stardust's cloak at his hooves, which brought a smile to Elixir's face.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't his actual head," replied Elixir, giving a nod of approval. "But thank you, Omega, for killing Stardust… you have no idea how relieved I feel about this."

"I think I can guess," muttered Casey, and then, in a serious tone, he asked, "So, where is she?"

"Ah, yes, the version of Twilight from Casey's world," said Elixir, nodding his head again, and before Casey could say anything else, he yelled, " _Ronxor!"_

The silver Pegasus entered the room, with a female pony slung over on his back, and he tossed her body at Casey's hooves. "There ya go, boss!"

"Well done, Ronxor," replied Elixir, and he turned his attention over to Casey. "And a deal is a deal, my friend… you rid me of Stardust, I give you Twilight."

Normally, Casey would have felt relieved to see his girlfriend, but instead, he was feeling only pain and anger, especially since Twilight looked like she had been roughed up.

"You _promised_ that no harm would come to her," growled Casey, glaring at Elixir, who was still smiling. "This is unacceptable!"

"Well, to be fair, my friend, I swore to you that _I_ would not harm the princess… however, not once did I say that Ronxor couldn't do anything to her… _and_ she was put in a safe place."

Ronxor let out a dark chuckle, and he added, "Such a shame, though, that she put up more of a fight than Applejack did… right, sire?"

While Casey's anger continued to grow, Elixir began to leave the throne room, with Ronxor following after him, and he said, "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Omega… stick around for a little more, though, so you don't miss the show."

However, at that point, Casey's only concern was for Twilight, and once he was sure that the two villains were gone, the young pony removed his mask and cloak, with his eyes beginning to water up.

"No… Twilight… not you, please… this wasn't supposed to happen…"

As he held her in his hooves, the alicorn princess didn't give a response, so Casey did what he felt like he had to do… which was giving her a slow and passionate kiss.

But then, the light orange Earth pony gritted his teeth in frustration, and he growled, _"Stardust…"_

So, looking down at his special somepony, Casey promised that he would return, and after laying her down in a more some-what comfortable position, the angered pony headed swiftly back to the room that he had left Stardust in.

A few minutes later, Twilight's head began to move around, and in a weak voice, she said, " _Jack…?"_

* * *

"Did you know, Starswirl?"

 _No, Jack, I did not… he even took me by surprise._

After checking on Pinkie again, Stardust went over to the other side of the room, and he began to shake his head in frustration. "I just can't see how-"

" _You [BEEP]!"_

Suddenly, the young pony found himself looking up at a returning Casey, who now looked extremely upset.

" _This is all of your damn fault!"_

Before Stardust could say anything, Casey walked over to him, removing the chains off of his hooves, and he cried, _"If you'd been there like you had promised…"_

"Hey, I don't know what the [BEEP] you're talking about, Casey," replied Stardust, taking a few steps back. "And how is this-"

" _You know why, a-hole!"_ yelled Casey, angrily stomping his hoof to the ground, and then, he waited a moment before saying, "A few days after… you broke our friendship… I come home to find out that Twilight was captured by Elixir via a letter that he had left me… and that if I came to save her, he'd kill her…"

Then, he let out a sigh, and glared at Stardust, who could almost see the pain in Casey's eyes.

"I immediately knew who to ask for help, but as I recall… and correct me if I'm wrong… that certain pony told me to not bother him with my problems _ever again_."

Remembering their argument, Stardust began to feel some regret, but before he could say anything, Casey added, "You want an answer to your earlier question? Is it obvious now? I did this to _save_ her, Stardust… I was supposed to take her back with me safe-and-sound, but instead, Elixir had his damn servant nearly beat her to death, and… _aaaaggghhh!"_

Casey walked away from Stardust, his frustration growing, and he yelled, "To make things worse, Star, he has the rest of my friends, and I already lost Applejack… but if I lost _Twilight_ …"

He was now sitting on the ground, and his eyes began to water up again.

"I accepted the death of my parents, Star, but if _she_ was to… I don't think I could…"

" _I know, Casey."_

The young pony looked back at Stardust, who nodded his head, and said, "I know, more or less, of how you feel…"

Casey frowned, and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Stardust sighed, and he took a moment before saying, "After Tirek was defeated, and Twilight had gotten her castle, it seemed like everything was almost back to normal, but… I quickly learned that I would be going back to my original home-world… and that meant I could never see none of the friends that I had made in that world... in Equestria... ever again… including Twilight…"

The memories were coming back into his mind, starting from when Starswirl had said that his family was awaiting him, and stopping at the moment he thought he was having one last kiss with the alicorn he loved so much.

"I… never knew that," said a surprised Casey, and Stardust smirked at him.

"Yeah, well, I think you can see why… but the point I am making, Casey, is that I know what it feels like to lose Twilight, and I don't want the same to happen to you."

Then, the two former friends shared a smile with each other, but before either of them could say anything, a familiar voice said, "Oh, hi, Twi… _(gasp) Twilight, you're hurt! Badly!"_

As she walked into the room, Twilight replied, in a weak voice, "Thanks for the reminder, Pinkie… and… Casey, is that… you?"

"Yeah, but why does it sound like-" He started to say, but then, the young pony realized that Twilight was wearing a necklace that looked like the one Stardust had given to his, and that meant…

 _The second time this has happened,_ thought Casey, bringing his hoof to his forehead.

" _Twilight?"_ said Stardust, who was shocked to see her like this. "What the… who in the _[BEEP] hurt you?_ "

The alicorn princess took a few deep breaths before she answered his question.

"Elixir did… this… and _his_ Twilight looks just as worse, up in the prison ship…"

"She's in there?" exclaimed Casey, who was now realizing that the dark-colored pony had pulled a _switch_ on him. "That lying, _[BEEP]-ing…_ "

Twilight looked over at her special somepony, and she said, "I see that he still has some of you in him."

"He does?" asked a surprised Pinkie, who had escaped her locks, and she was now standing by her friend. "Well, that explains the _'beep'_ sound effects."

Before Stardust could explain to her, an angered Casey growled, "I am going to personally kill those two if it's the last thing that I-"

" _Wait a minute!"_

To everyone's surprise, Twilight looked at the light-orange pony, and she cried, " _Casey, you… you're alive! This… this is great! Confusing, as well, but… Jack, he's alive!"_

"Yeah, I was surprised, too," replied Stardust, in a sarcastic tone, and Twilight gave him a confused look. "I'll explain later, love

He then walked over to his former friend said, "I know we aren't on good terms, Casey, but all of our friends need us… and your Twilight needs you… so forget about what I said, and let's solve this thing together."

Casey frowned at Stardust, still showing signs of hatred against him, but then, after a moment of silence, he nodded his head.

"Fine… but on one condition, though…"

"What would that be?" questioned Stardust, raising an eyebrow.

As Casey's eyes slowly began to return back to normal, he replied, "When the moment comes, I'll leave Elixir to you… and I want to take care of _Ronxor_ myself."

Stardust smirked at him, and he nodded his head, saying, "Fine with me…"

So, then, the two of them began to walk out of the room, but as Twilight and Pinkie hurried after them, the party-loving pony noticed her friend's confusion.

"What is it, Twilight?"

"Nothing, Pinkie, I just… I remember dreaming of Jack kissing me, but… it felt real…"

Pinkie just gave a small shrug, and replied, "You got me, Twilight, I don't know what to say… I mean, it's not like somepony else kissed you or something, right?"


	15. Broken Friendship, Part 2

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 15 - Broken Friendship, Part 2_

 _Author's Note:_ _ **"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"**_ _belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight._

* * *

As the four of them headed to the castle doors, Twilight's hooves gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.

" _Twilight!"_ cried Stardust, who quickly went back over to her. "Okay, you need some rest… and some help…"

"I'll be fine… Jack," replied a worn-out Twilight, who still looked pretty beat up. "I just… need a moment to…"

But Stardust shook his head, and he looked at Pinkie Pie, saying, "Help her while me and Casey deal with that _[BEEP-BEEP-BEEP]_ Alexa pony… Twilight, just stay here, okay?"

Twilight was about to argue with him, but all she could do was nod her head.

"Thanks, love," replied Stardust, and he gave her a quick kiss before continuing to follow Casey out of the castle.

As she watched him leave, Twilight looked over at Pinkie, who was currently holding onto her, and said, "Okay, first… we need to-"

"Nope, nope, nope, nope," interrupted Pinkie, also now dressed up like a nurse. "You let me take care of you, Twilight… and if you behave, I'll even give you a lollipop!"

Then, the pink-colored pony softly patted the top of her friend's head, and Twilight let out a sigh.

As for Casey and Stardust, the gold-colored pony told him that he needed his former friend to do something very important, regarding his supressed powers.

* * *

At the very top of the spaceship, which was where the controls were at, Ronxor was about to fire a deadly weapon at the rest of the Mane 6, but then, Elixir said, " _Hold on a second… I want to talk to them first… go and bring you-know-who up here."_

The silver Pegasus nodded his head, and made his way back inside the ship while Elixir focused his attention on Stardust's friends.

"What did you do to Twilight?" asked an unamused Sunset.

"Yeah, and where's Stardust?" cried an irritated Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, I'm not quite sure exactly what happened to the princess of friendship," replied Elixir, who was giving them a sly grin. "As for your other friend… well, this should answer your question."

He tossed out the remains of Stardust's cloak, which landed in front of the young pony's friends, and Starlight gasped in shock.

"You mean… that he was…"

Elixir let out a laugh, and he answered, "I'm not sorry, but yes, your precious savior is no longer alive… in fact, you'll never see him _nor_ this world ever again!"

 _BOOM!_

With the silver staff raised above his head, the dark-colored pony caused a very large energetic portal to appear in the sky above them, and Applejack asked, "What in the hay is that supposed to be?"

" _That_ is a gateway to dimensional limbo," explained Elixir. "Whoever goes through will be stuck inside for all eternity… it would be absolutely impossible for _anyone_ to escape, and if it wasn't for the lovely intervention of the Celestia from _my_ world, you wouldn't have even had to dealt with me in the first place."

Sunset frowned at the sinister pony, and she replied, "Well, once we find out Twilight, she'll be able to-"

"Oh, that childish alicorn knows _nothing_ about dimensional gateways," exclaimed Elixir. "The only way for it to be open is by the power of _this_ staff… if increased greatly, it would cause the gateway to be closed forever, with absolutely no way to re-open it."

As his cruel smile grew, the villainous pony added, "All of the prisoners that are in this ship are going to be sent there, and I'm about to start with _all of you_."

Then, the staff began to glow with dark energy, but just as he was about to fire, a white-hot energy blast knocked it out of his hooves, and the staff landed several feet away from them.

" _Hey, Alexa!"_

Elixir turned around, and found himself looking up at a glowing Stardust, who was back to using his full _balance power._

" _What the… this is impossible! You're supposed to be dead!"_

As he made his way down to the ship's platform, Stardust chuckled, and replied, "I die _almost every day_ , Alexa… or, technically, every other Tuesday, but I was actually _'killed'_ on Monday, so thanks for pushing it back."

While an annoyed Elixir growled in frustration, Stardust looked at his friends, and said, "Go back to the castle, and help Twilight... leave him to me."

They all nodded their heads, figuring that Twilight was either injured or in trouble, but before leaving the ship, Sunset asked, "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be just fine," assured the energized Earth pony. "Now, go, Twilight needs your help…"

With a nod of her head, Sunset quickly hurried after the others while Stardust glared at Elixir, who smirked at his opponent.

"So, you _honestly think_ that you can stop me, Stardust Balance?"

"You're damnright, you _[BEEP-BEEP],_ " replied the determined human-turned-pony.

Then, as his own hooves began to glow with black fire-like energy, Elixir said, "Bring it, then, _hero_ …"

With his energy attacks ready to go, Stardust smirked at the sinister pony, and replied, "You just need to sit the _[BEEP] down, and shut the [BEEP] up!_ "

* * *

After opening the door that led to the special door where Casey's Twilight was in, Ronxor let out a chuckle, and said, "You're looking better, princess… are you and your cellmate ready to get some sunshine?"

Before she could answer him, a familar voice yelled, _"Hey, you [BEEP] a-hole!"_

Ronxor turned around to see Casey, who back in his Omega disguise, as well as holding onto a very powerful gun-shaped weapon.

" _This is for AJ and my girlfriend, you [BEEP]_!"

 _ **BOOM!**_

Casey fired the weapon, and once the blast hit Ronxor, he quickly disintegrated into a pile of dust, which brought a smile to his face.

Then, after removing his disguise, the young pony looked at who was in front of him, and said, "Hey, Twi-"

" _Casey!"_

The next thing he knew, his Twilight had wrapped her hooves around him, and Casey let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I have something of yours, by the way..."

A few seconds later, they moved away from each other, and Twilight looked down to see the turtledove necklace that was similar to the one she had given him on the day they had first met.

" _Ugh… I feel like I bumped my head on a crate of cider…"_

To Casey's surprise, Applejack (the one from his world) slowly walked out of the room, and she had a hoof on top of her head.

"You wouldn't happen to have my hat, as well, would you, sugarcube?"

Although he was confused, Casey decided to just "roll with it", and so, he brought out his friend's hat from underneath the cloak, which was then handed over to her.

" _Thank you_ … now, what in Equestria is goin' on here?"

 _BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Suddenly, the muffled sounds of explosions caused them to look up, and Casey said, "I'll explain later… right now, we got to help Stardust."

* * *

As he dodged another one of Elixir's attacks, the gold-colored pony asked, "Hey, Alexa, you think you could improve your aim?"

"Stop _calling me that_!" shouted an annoyed Elixir, who was growing impatient with Stardust. "Don't you ever shut up?!"

"Nah, not really, it's actually a gift," replied Stardust, doing a backlip before firing his own blast. "Oh, hey, how about I call you Eliza? I mean, even though you're sort-of a talking animal-"

Elixir barely moved away at the last second, and he yelled, _"Aaaaarrrgghhh… just shut up, you worthless piece of garbage!"_

 _ **WHAM!**_

Then, before he even realized it, Stardust suddenly appeared in front of him, and delivered a solid punch to his forehead, causing Elixir to fall to the ground.

"Thank you for your services, Alexa, but Amazon said that you were defunct, so I gotta send you back to the warehouse."

 _Must you always say something like this_ _ **every**_ _time you engage in combat?_

Stardust just laughed, and was about to answer his elderly friend when a familiar voice cried, _"That was pretty darn good, sugarcube!"_

"Thanks, Other AJ," replied the young pony, as he saw Casey arrive with Twilight and Applejack. "Are you okay, your highness?"

While the young alicorn nodded her head, Casey walked over to Stardust, and said, "Hey, um… look, there's something we need to-"

" _Look out!"_

 _WHAM!_

Elixir, who had landed by the silver staff used it to fire an energy blast at Casey, aiming for his rib-cage area, but luckily, Stardust was able to deflect it away just in the nick of time, sending it flying back to the staff, which caused it to break in half.

"It's _over,_ Alexa," exclaimed Stardust, glaring at the sinister pony. "I'm going to do what your world's version of Celestia should have done, and send you into _that thing_!"

"Oh, is that so?" laughed Elixir. "Well, if I'm going, then _so… will-_ "

 _WHAM!_

Suddenly, a familiar pony had appeared from out of nowhere to trap Elixir in her party cannon, and then, she turned it around so that she could fire the sinister pony, along with some confetti, into the portal.

" _Thanks for visiting us,"_ cried Pinkie Pie, from Casey's world. " _Hope you never come back… oh, hi, everypony_!"

She waved her hoof at the three of them, but before anyone could say anything, Casey suddenly yelled, " _Star, watch out!"_

 _ **ZZZZZZZZZTTTTT!**_

" _If I go, then I'm taking somepony with me!"_ roared Elixir, from inside the portal, and he was referring to the electro-magnetic worm that he had sent down at them.

At first, it was about to grab Stardust, but Casey moved out of the way, causing the worm to wrap itself around him instead!

" _Casey!"_

Then, the worm quickly began to take Casey back into the portal with it, but right as they reached the halfway point, Stardust and Twilight showed up, and got a tight grip onto his front hooves.

So, now, it was like a dangerous game of tug-and-war, and neither side wanted to give up.

" _Isn't there a way to shut this thing off?"_ exclaimed Twilight.

" _Yeah, but we need to get Casey away from this thing first,"_ replied Stardust, refusing to let go. _"So, let's keep on-"_

 _ **ZZZZZZZTTTTT!**_

Unfortunately, more worms were starting to appear, and they headed straight for the three of them, but Stardust used one of his hooves to fire energy blasts at all of them, which forced the worms back inside.

 _[Insert "Tears of Life" from Pokémon, starting at 0:35]_

However, they eventually figured out what he was doing, and so, they morphed with the worm that was already holding onto Casey, which made it harder for Stardust and Twilight to pull their friend towards them.

" _Alright, that's it!"_

Stardust prepared to fire another energy blast, but to his surprise, he was no longer able to, which meant that he had finally run out of that energy.

" _Starswirl, help us out-"_

" _ **No!"**_

Casey, whose previous injuries were returning (due to the worm almost squeezing the life out of him), looked at the two of them, and had a serious facial expression as he cried, _"Let go!"_

" _Are you crazy?!"_ yelled Stardust, who head. _"We're getting you out of this, Case, just-"_

" _Star, listen to me,"_ exclaimed Casey. _"The longer this portal is open, the more easier it is for everypony here to end up in here, also!"_

" _You don't know that,"_ replied Twilight, who was almost close to feeling the pain that her counterpart was going through. _"We can figure this out, Casey, so-"_

But Casey was refusing to listen. _"It's the only way, Twilight! I'm the only one who can close this thing!"_

" _What are you talking about?"_

The young pony looked over at Stardust, who soon realized what Casey was talking about.

" _No! No! [BEEP] no, you are not going to-"_

" _I_ _ **have**_ _to, Stardust, and you know it… aaaaaggghhhh!"_ yelled Casey, as his injuries became worse.

" _No, Casey! I'm not going to-"_

Looking straight into the eyes of his friend, Casey yelled, _"Take her, Stardust… take her - aaaaaaggghhh!"_

As the worm prepared to give one more final tug, the young pony said, _"Star… I'm sorry… for everything… and for what I'm about to do."_

Before Stardust or Twilight could say anything else, Casey used his lightning attack on them, and it caused the two to fly straight back down to the ship's top platform.

Then, while letting out a yell of anger and pain, he unleashed all of the full remaining power that was left inside of him, with the sky now being filled with deadly lightning.

" _Casey!"_ yelled a weakened Twilight, and she was about to use the rest of her strength to-

 _ **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**_

All of the power that had come from Casey was too much for the gateway's portal to handle, and the result came in the form of a giant explosion, which almost sent her, Stardust, and Applejack flying off of the ship.

Once the smoke had cleared away, the three of them looked back up at the sky, but they didn't see any sign of Casey or the portal.

" _No… Casey…"_ sobbed Twilight, as tears fell from her eyes. _"Casey!"_

A tearful Applejack had placed her hat against her chest, while Stardust was shocked, speechless, and felt like he'd just lost his friend all over again.


	16. Stardust's Choice

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 16 - Stardust's Choice_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Hasbro and DHX Media own the rights to this series, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilght._

* * *

An hour had passed since Casey had sacrificed himself to save Stardust's world, and all of their friends were waiting in the throne room for them to return.

"I'm sure that he wasn't in the explosion when it happened, Twilight," assured Sunset. "Stardust promised you that he would come back."

"Yeah, I know…" said Twilight, who was now bandaged up, and slowly recovering from her injuries. "But I just can't help feeling like-"

" _Look, someone's coming!"_ yelled Rainbow Dash, pointing her hoof at the doorway, and everyone watched as Applejack, Pinkie, and Twilight (all from Casey's world) made their inside, along with a worn-out Stardust that [his] Twilight quickly made his way over to, with help from Sunset since she wasn't exactly at 100% just yet.

"I was so worried when I saw that big explosion appear in the sky," said the young alicorn, her hooves wrapped tightly around him.

Stardust didn't respond to her by speaking, choosing instead to just nod his head, and return his girlfriend's hug.

On the other side of the room, all of Casey's friends were welcoming back Pinkie, Applejack, and Twilight, but after a while, Starlight noticed that something was wrong.

"What is it, Twilight? What's wrong?"

As Stardust turned his head to look over at the group, Twilight's counterpart tried her best to not break down into tears once she started to give them her answer.

"Casey… he saved us… and… he did it... by…"

The young alicorn took a moment to pause, and Starlight looked over at Applejack for an answer, but the apple-harvesting pony simply shook her head in sadness.

"Did Elixir do something to him?" asked Spike's counterpart.

Before Twilight could even say anything else, another pony entered the room, and answered the question for all of them.

"I'm sorry to say this, but your friend is gone."

Kronos had returned, and almost instantly, Stardust remembered what the elderly pony had told him earlier regarding Casey.

"What in the… _gone_? What do you mean he's gone?" exclaimed Rarity, and Kronos let out a sigh.

"He performed a noble sacrifice so that this world would continue to remain safe, and-"

" _You [BEEP] piece of [BEEP] that [BEEP] son of a [BEEP]... [BEEP-BEEP-BEEP]!"_

Kronos turned his attention over to Stardust, who was now showing signs of pure rage againt the realm watcher.

" _I know that you knew this might happen, Kronos,"_ yelled the angered pony, and he angrily pointed his hoof at him _. "And you [BEEP] didn't do anything about it!_

" _Plus, you_ _ **lied**_ _to me! You told me that Casey was dead… you [BEEP]-in lied to me!"_

As Stardust walked up to him, Kronos held up his hooves in defense, and said, "Now, just relax for a moment, Jack… what I told you was _true_ , if you look at it from a certain point of view."

" _A certain point of…"_ exclaimed Stardust, who gritted his teeth in frustration, and his face was growing red with anger.

"Ohhh, this can't be good," said Pinkie Pie, who was shaking her head.

* * *

 _A few seconds later…_

 _ **WHAM!**_

After going through several walls of Celestia's castle, Kronos ended up landing in a water fountain, and as Stardust ran outside, Sunset looked at her injured friend.

"Shouldn't you be telling him to calm down, or think about what he's doing?"

Twilight shook her head, and she replied, "I'm not… exactly… in the best condition right now to point out his mistakes…"

Before Sunset could reply, Pinkie began to walk through the broken walls, and said, "Hey, this is almost like that one time you made a hole through the wall of Canterlot High!"

Once he was outside, a fire-like-glowing Stardust yelled, _"I don't even care if you threaten to send me here or there… cause I'm shoving this hoof down your-"_

" _I can bring him back!"_ exclaimed Kronos, and the young pony froze in place. "I can return him here, Jack… he'll be safe and happy… just like what you wanted."

While Stardust became silent, the rest of the ponies stood by him, and Twilight's counterpaet let out a gasp, saying, " _You can actually bring him back? Really?"_

Stepping out of the fountain, Kronos nodded his head, and replied, "Yes, Princess Twilight… I can…"

The eyes of Casey's special somepony lit up with happiness, along with the rest of his friends, but a frowning Stardust had a suspicion that there was some sort of catch.

" _However…_ a price must be paid in order for me to do that… and that price is all of _you-"_

Kronos pointed his hoof at Stardust, Twilight, and the rest of their friends.

"-must never come back to this world ever again… and as for all of you-"

He was now turning his attention over to Casey's friends, and said, "You will have no recollection of any memory whatsover that has to do with Stardust Balance… it will be like he never existed… in return, princess, you will have Casey returned to you safe and-"

 _WHAM!_

After Kronos crashed into the water fountain's statue, an outraged Stardust cried, _"What kind of [BEEP-BEEP] is that?! You can't just mess with a pony's memories like nothing bad is going to happen… who the [BEEP] do you think you are?"_

"I'm giving you a _choice_ to make, Jack," replied the elderly pony, who began to stand up. "It's either that, or he'll remain gone forever…"

Stardust shook his head, and yelled, _"That is complete bull-[BEEP]! You open a portal right now to that damn gateway, and I'll get him out of there myself!"_

"You would never find him, Jack," said Kronos, now speaking in a serious tone. "At this point, he could be _anywhere_ in there, and if you were lucky enough to actually locate Casey, he would already be dead from his own severe injuries."

Before Stardust could yell at him some more, Kronos added, "Be lucky that I am not touching any of _your_ memories, Jack… and if I recall, you _said_ that you wanted Casey to be happy."

" _That has nothing to do with this,"_ growled an upset Stardust. _"He's my friend, and I am not going to-"_

"Well, then _as_ his friend, what would _you_ prefer to have happen?" questioned Kronos. "Have me bring Casey back here so that he can be reunited with the friends that he made when first meeting them in the Crystal Empire…"

He then gestured towards Twilight's counterpart, and added, "To be with his special somepony again… or simply let you have a never-ending chase throughout _the entire_ world of dimensional limbo, and bring his body only to have it be cremated, or placed in a coffin, for a proper burial?"

" _Who in the holy [BEEP] do you-"_

" _Stardust?"_

He turned to look at Twilight's counterpart, and the young human-turned-pony could see the pain and sadness in her eyes.

"I… none of us want to forget you… but… having Casey back…"

Trying his best to remain calm, Stardust shook his head, and said, "I know it seems impossible, Twilight, but as somepony who has died multiple times, there has to be another way for-"

"I am afraid that there is not in this type of situation, Jack," replied Kronos. "So, I will ask you one more time to decide… it's either bring Casey back, or let him remain dead and lost for all eternity."

" _Well, why the hell do_ _ **I**_ _have to decide this?"_

The elderly pony let out a sigh, and he said, "It's just the way it has to be, Jack… what will your decision be?"

"I… I… um…" Stardust looked back at his Twilight, hoping that she'd might be able to think of a solution, or offer some advice.

The alicorn princess looked at her emotionally-hurt counterpart, and then, back at Stardust before she replied, "All I can say, Jack… is to remember what it was like when you had to leave all of us."

" _What… how does that…"_ Stardust started to say, but then, he found himself remembering what he'd told Casey back in the castle.

 _I know how it feels to lose, Twilight, and I don't want the same to happen to you._

After that, Stardust remembered what had happened between her and Casey on the ship.

 _You don't know that, Casey! We'll think of something-_

 _It's the only way, Twilight!_

 _ **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**_

 _No… Casey… Casey!_

Then, after taking one more look at Twilight's counterpart, Stardust remembered what had happened on the day that he'd left Equestria.

 _Please… don't leave us… don't leave me…_

" _Jack?"_

Twilight walked over to stand by a teary-eyed Stardust, who said, "Starswirl?"

 _Neither choice is easy, Jack, but you need to go with the one that you think is best… also, Casey chose to save not only his world, and the lives of his friends… he also chose to save_ _ **you**_ _… so that you wouldn't go through the pain again of losing Twilight…_

Taking in his friend's words of advice, Stardust looked at the rest of his friends, who were not exactly sure how to help him decide.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Pinkie walked up to him, and said, "You told Casey that keeping his Twilight happy was the most important thing in his life… so, if Kronos bringing him back will make her happy, then…"

"Yeah, I... um… thank you, Pinkie…" replied Stardust, and he sighed before looking back at Kronos. "So you _will_ be able to bring him back, then? Alive… safe and sound…"

"Well, for the most part, yes," explained Kronos. "He'll still be injured, but just the regular ones… the more serious injuries will be gone completely."

Stardust nodded his head, and then, after taking a deep breath, he told the elderly pony what his decision was.

"You sure?"

"I… yes… positive…"

A smile appeared on Kronos' face, and before tapping his now-glowing clock staff on the ground, he replied, "You did the right thing."

Stardust just gave him a small nod, in response, and he looked up at the sky.

 _I'm sorry, Casey… thank you for being my friend…_

 _ **WHOOSH!**_

* * *

…

…

…

" _Casey…"_

…

" _Casey!"_

" _Aaaggh!"_ yelled Casey, suddenly waking up, and found himself looking at a smiling Pinkie.

" _Yay, you're awake now! I'll go get Twilight!"_

She swiftly raced out of his bedroom before Casey could say anything, and the young pony sat up in his bed, trying to remember why he felt like he was having a bad headache.

 _The last thing I_ _ **do**_ _remember was… having a race with… Rainbow Dash, but…_

" _So, how are you feeling, Casey?"_

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a smiling Twilight, who walked in with a glass of water.

"Um… honestly, Twilight?" replied Casey, giving her a chuckle. "Like what, uh… AJ always says… bumping my head against cider, or something."

The alicorn princess smirked at him, and she said, "Well, you did bump your head, but it was against a tree, and it happened this morning… you've been out for almost four hours."

"Really?" Casey began to rub the side of his head with his hoof, and added, "It felt longer, for some reason…"

After drinking some water from the glass that Twilight had given him, the young pony began to climb out of bed, and before he could ask another question, his stomach made a large growl noise.

"Um… is there anything special made for lunch?" asked Casey, with a sheepish expression on his face.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight smiled at her special somepony, and said, "Yes, don't worry, just meet downstairs…"

"Got it," replied a chuckling Casey, watching her walk away with a look of love and happiness.

Then, he was about to leave the room, but something on his desk nearby had caught his attention, and so, he walked over to find that it was a rather lengthy book.

"Was _I_ reading this, or did Twilight-"

The growling of his stomach interrupted Casey's thoughts, and he simply decided to come back to it late, choosing to walk out of the room.


	17. A Peaceful Reunion

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 17 - A Peaceful Reunion_

 _Author's Note:_ _ **"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"**_ _belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while the Warrior of Twilight is the creator of Stardust Balance._

* * *

As he looked out the window, Stardust sighed, and muttered, "I still don't get why Celestia wanted us to come and see her immediately… especially when I was doing something important."

"You were _sleeping_ in your room, Jack," said Twilight, who still had some bandages around her head.

"Like I said, love, very important…"

A few days had passed since Kronos had transported Casey's friends back to their world, along with presumably bringing the light-orange pony back to life, and after everypony that Elixir captured had been freed, Kronos had taken the spaceship back with him to his realm.

Sunset had gone back to the _'human world',_ but not before saying good-bye to Stardust and Twilight, which had allowed him to tease the two of them one more time about Twilight having to kiss her.

" _You're never going to let that go, are you?"_

" _Eh, don't worry, I'll probably end up forgetting about it, considering what else goes on around here."_

And that brings our story to what was currently happening right now… which was Stardust and Twilight, along with Spike, taking a train-ride to Canterlot after having recieved a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that it was urgent for them to meet her.

"You think she's upset about all that damage you caused to the castle?" wondered Spike, and that made Twilight frown at him. "What?"

"Okay, what I did was necessary… at the time, I will admit," replied Stardust, giving a small shrug. "But I already gave her and Luna an apology, anyway, in regards to the walls and the throne… and the fountain... so them being upset about that at this point is kind of pointless and unnecessary."

Spike just nodded his head, but as the golden Earth Pony continued to look back out the window, he looked over at Twilight with a confused expression, as if he was asking _"is he okay"_.

The young alicorn gave him a small smile, and said, "He misses Casey…"

" _Ohhhhh_ , right… well, why can't you just go and visit him, then, Star?"

Keeping his eyes at what he saw out the window, Stardust replied, "Because we can't anymore, since that was part of the agreement… and plus, he wouldn't even remember me."

 _But he_ _ **is**_ _happy, Jack… which is what you wanted for him, right?_ reminded his mentor, and Stardust just gave another shrug, going back to thinking about his friend that would probably never know about him at all.

* * *

 _[Canterlot]_

As they walked through the castle, Twilight tried to get her special somepony back in a positive mood by saying, "It sure was nice of Kronos to restore your cloak back to the way it was."

"Oh, yeah… totally makes up for him giving me a blanket instead of a sleeping bag."

" _Jack…"_

Stardust sighed, and replied, "I know, love, I know… I just can't help it…"

A few minutes later, they were in the throne room, with the walls that Stardust had thrown Casey through still being repaired by various construction ponies, and Princess Celestia was standing in the same spot, where her throne had been restored to its rightful place.

"Is everything okay, Princess Celestia?" asked a concerned Twilight. "You asked for us to come here as soon as possible…"

"Yes, I did, Twilight," said her old mentor. "And that's because there is somepony who wants to have a word with you both."

Stardust's expression went from sad to confused after hearing her say that, and he replied, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

 _Whoosh!_

Suddenly, a swirl of magic appeared near Celestia, and it quickly transformed itself into Kronos, much to the trio's surprise.

"You seem to be improving well, your highness," said the elderly pony, giving Twilight a smile. "And always a _pleasure_ to see you, Stardust."

"Uh-huh," replied Stardust, who clearly was not amused by this, or even in the mood to see Kronos. "Why exactly are _you_ here?"

 _Just tone it down a bit, Jack… I'm sensing some positive energy coming from him, so this might be a good thing._

"Your mentor is right," agreed Kronos, and before Stardust could ask how he knew what Starswirl had said, the elderly pony replied, "I am here because I have a special surprise for the two of you."

"Us?" said Twilight and Stardust, both of them now surprised. "What is it?"

" _Hey, Star… hello, Princess Twilight…"_

From out of the shadows emerged a pair of _very_ familiar ponies, and Stardust's muzzle almost dropped to the ground while Twilight became absolutely speechless.

" _Casey?"_ said Spike, taking a moment to remember who it was. "And… the other Twilight?"

"But… but… but…" Stardust looked back and forth between his friends and Kronos, unsure as to what was going on. "I'm a little confused."

Then, to his surprise, Celestia replied, "The two of us thought it was for the best if you and Casey continued to remain being friends… considering what you did to make sure he was happy."

"Um… but what did I do?" said a still-confused Stardust, and he watched quietly as Kronos walked up to him.

"By choosing to have me bring Casey back to life, it showed me that you were willing to give up your friendship with him so that he could enjoy the rest of his life… that, even though he would never remember the things you did together, the only thing that was important was him and the rest of his friends being happy…"

With a smile, Kronos added, "After I went back to my realm, I could see that Casey was, indeed, enjoying his life… but I also saw that you were starting to miss him… so I had a long and interesting conversation with Princess Celestia about everything that had happened ever since Rowan came to Casey's world, and like she said, we came to an agreement."

A smile started to appear on Stardust's face, but then, the word _agreement_ caused him to frown a little bit, and he said, "I'm guessing there are rules that we have to follow now."

"In a way, yes," replied Kronos. "After helping me retrieve and capture Elixir from dimensional limbo, Celestia convinced me more into restoring Casey's memories, as well as those of others you've met since he came here…"

Then, the room was quickly filled with darkness, and Kronos now looked a lot more menacing, along with his voice having a more strict and commanding tone.

" _However, if I ever have to return again to either of these worlds because of a problem caused by_ _ **you**_ _or_ _ **him**_ _, then I will make it so that it was like none of this_ _ **ever**_ _happened… understood?"_

Everyone except Kronos and Celestia nodded their heads, and in a flash, the room was back to normal, with the elderly pony saying, "Then, you two are free to continue remaining friends… because you never know when one of you will need the other desperately… so, now, I bid you-"

"Um, Kronos?" asked Spike, who was raising one of his claws. "Does that mean Elixir is being kept prisoner in your realm from now on?"

Kronos chuckled, and replied, "Let's just say that I hope he loves having tea-parties for all eternity... oh, and I almost forgot…"

He turned to look over at Stardust, who rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression.

"So, does that mean there isn't any… er, hard feelings about trying to beat the _[BEEP]_ out of you?"

To his relief, Kronos shook his head, but then, the elderly pony looked at Celestia, and said, "Forgive me for this, your highness."

The raiser of the sun sighed, and reluctantly smiled as she nodded her head, with Kronos now pointing his staff at Stardust, whose body was becoming covered with psychic energy.

 _WHOOSH!_

Then, Kronos raised his staff upward, causing Stardust to fly straight up into the air, as well as crashing through the roof of the castle, and with a satisfied grin, he said, "Farewell, everypony!"

In a _poof_ of white smoke, the elderly pony was gone, and Twilight was preparing to fly up through the-

" _I got him! I got him! Don't worry, Twilight, I'll get him this time!"_

From out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appeared, and she was now standing next to the purple alicorn, who rolled her eyes, with open hooves as she cried, _"You'll be okay, Star, Pinkie's here to-"_

 _ **WHAM!**_

Stardust crash-landed into Pinkie, and they were now both lying on the floor, eyes spinning around in a dizzy-like manner.

"Well, at least, she actually caught him this time," pointed out Spike, trying to sound optimistic.

* * *

 _A few hours later…_

In order to avoid causing any more potiental damage to the royal castle, Twilight suggested that they continue the reunion back in the library inside her own castle.

Once they had returned there, the two versions of Twilight waited as their special somepony tried talking to each other.

"I, um… look, about what…" said Casey, finding himselt at a loss for words.

"When I told you… eh… I'm not always…" replied Stardust, also having trouble with figuring out the right words to say.

But after Twilight placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, along with giving him a warm smile that helped make Stardudt feel a bit more relaxed, the golden Earth pony said, "I'm sorry for saying those hurtful things to you that day, Casey… you're my friend, and that isn't the way friends are supposed to treat each other… so, again, I apologize."

Then, after Twilight's counterpart gave Casey a playful nudge, the light-orange Earth pony replied, "Thank you… and I did mean it when I apologized before the whole… you know…"

He paused, for a moment, to raise his hoof in the air, and added, "So… still friends?"

Stardust smirked at Casey, and as the two of them shared a hoofshake, he said, "Yeah, still friends."

Then, once he backed away a little, Twilight teased him by saying, "What, no hugging it out?"

"Hey, these things take time, love," replied Stardust. "You have your way of doing this, and I have mine…"

As for Casey, he went back to stand by his Twilight, who said, "You see? It's like I said… all that was needed was for Stardust to apologize, and this whole fiasco could have been prevented."

Casey rolled his eyes, and said, "Alright, fine, I'll admit that you were-"

However, before he could finish, Casey was interrupted by the sudden mild laughter of Stardust's special somepony.

"Well, I mean… it wasn't the _only_ solution to the problem, but I am glad that he was able to admit his mistakes."

"Oh, please don't give me the _I told you so_ treatment," replied Stardust, letting out groan, but just as Twilight was about to say more, her counterpart chose to continue speaking.

"No, I'm _pretty sure_ that was the only way… I mean, it _was_ sort of his fault after all… um, no offense, Stardust."

While Stardust assured her that he wasn't offended, Twilight's laughter began to die down, and she asked, "Um… what are you talking about?"

 _This can't be good, Jack._

Listening to what Starswirl had said, the golden Earth pony looked at Casey, who realized what was going to happen.

" _Okay, so…_ it was great to see you, Star, and I hope you get better, your highness, so let's go back-"

But Twilight's counterpart wasn't ready to leave.

"I'm just saying that, if Stardust hadn't started arguing with Casey, none of this stuff would have ever happened."

Twilight began to frown at her, and she said, "Well, it's not like you did anything to try and fix it _before_ Jack came back here."

" _Alright,_ love, how about the two of us-" Stardust started to say, but he was interrupted by the other Twilight, who now looked annoyed with his girlfriend.

"Well, sorry for me being more concerned about the health and well-being of my special somepony… and I prefer _not_ having him risk or lose his life almost every day."

"Okay, it's not _every day_ , Twi-"

Twilight glared at her counterpart, and said, "Neither do I, but that's why I lo - like him… besides, if Casey hadn't fused with Jack, then he wouldn't have gotten those injures in the first place."

"Um, I didn't exactly have a _choice_ when that-"

" _Ugh_ , you just _had_ to bring that up," Casey's girlfriend was now becoming frustrated with Twilight, and she asked, "Are still upset about Starcade kissing me?"

While Stardust and Casey remained silent, Twilight replied, "That was _not_ Jack who kissed you… it was _Casey_ who did that! Besides, how would _you_ feel if he ever kissed _me_ on accident?"

"He would _never_ do that," said the other Twilight, and Casey's face momentarily became a little red. "And if I recall correctly, Casey's injuries were all because of _Evil_ _ **Him**_ _!"_

"Oh, that doesn't prove _anything,"_ exclaimed the young princess, but before she could say more, Stardust decided to step in.

"Alright, love, just take a quick breather… let Omega and I-"

" _Shhh! Star, you…_ you… uh…"

After noticing that everyone was looking at him now, Casey cleared his throat, and replied, "So, like I was saying, me and Twilight are just gonna-"

"Why did he call you _Omega_?" asked both of the Twilight's, and Casey glared at Stardust, who gave him an apologetic shrug.

Then, before he could answer, Twilight exclaimed, "You mean to tell me… that it was _you_ underneath that mask and cloak? _You_ were the one who fired a weapon at me and Rainbow Dash? _You_ were the one who almost killed Jack with all that lightning?"

" _What?!"_ cried Twilight's counterpart, shocked at what she was learning.

Knowing that he couldn't get out of this, Casey nodded his head, but before he could respond with an answer, Pinkie let out a loud gasp.

" _Now I get it!_ You were trying to be like an anti-hero, right? And that must've been why you kissed Twilight after Elixir gave her to you, but he tricked you into thinking she was _her_ , so that meant-"

" _What?! You kissed her/me?"_ yelled Twilight and her counterpart, while Stardust just shook his head, fighting off the urge to say something humorous.

 _You aren't upset by this?_

Stardust gave a small shrug, and replied, _I'm not exactly pleased to hear it, but at this point, I'm just, like, 'whatever' with it, so…_

As for Casey, he was being glared at by both Twilight and her counterpart, and he said, "Okay, yes, I did, but… I mean, it was just an accident! I thought I was kissing _her,_ but after I saw her necklace-"

 _WHOOSH!_

Having lost enough of her patience, and realizing that what she'd said earlier was true, Twilight began to growl as she went from purple to white, her eyes changed to a firey-red, and her mane literally burst into flames, along with her tail!

 _Oh my god,_ thought Stardust. _**That**_ _is… wow, that's hot!_

 _SPLASH!_

"What? She was getting hot," said Pinkie, putting down the now-empty bucket after seeing everyone stare at her.

" _Thanks, Pinkie…"_ muttered an exhausted, annoyed, and now-soaked Twilight

Now feeling a little humorous, Stardust walked over to her with a towel that also came from Pinkie, and said, "Hey, at least now you know how _I_ felt."

As for Casey, who didn't want the same thing to happen to his Twilight, he said, "Okay, yes, I accidentally kissed you, your Highness, and I'm sorry… yes, I was Omega, and I apologize for what I did as him… and Twilight, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, so please don't explode into a fire pony."

"Oh, don't worry, I already know what that feels like," replied Twilight's counterpart. "But you and I are having a _talk_ once we get back home… are we clear on that?"

"Absolutely," said a now-sheepish Casey. "You still love me, right?"

His girlfriend rolled her eyes, and replied, "I never said I _didn't,_ Casey… you're just so _irritating_ sometimes."

"Oh, believe me, I know exactly what you're talking about," said Twilight, looking at her special somepony. "And, uh, sorry about… _ooh… ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!_ "

Her "anger explosion" had caused the bandages around her head to turn into ashes, and so now, those wounds were starting to hurt badly

" _Okay,_ Pony-Twi, let's go take of that before you evolve again," said Stardust, who began to take her out of the library.

Once they were gone, Casey's girlfriend looked over at him, and asked, "So… if you thought that was _me_ … what kind of kiss did you give her, then?"

"Um…" Casey began to blush a little bit, and he said, "Are you gonna be mad if-"

"Not unless you can make me _forget_ about being mad at you," replied the alicorn, giving him a teasing smile.

After catching onto her, Casey smiled back, and said, "Well, then… I can fix that…"

So, the two of them started to kiss, but in a slow and romantic way, and while Pinkie was giving her _"awww"_ face, Spike just shook his head.

"That is just weird and sweet and _blegh_ all at the same time."

"Aw, come on, Spike, it's just like how Stardust did it back when Twilight became a - _ooh, what's that_?"

Lying near the Crystal Mirror was one of Elixir's weapons that had been left behind, and Casey immediately recognized what it was.

"Pinkie, no, don't touch that!"

"What? It's not like-"

Twilight's counterpart started to use her magic to take it out of her hooves, saying, "Pinkie, you don't know if that-"

 _BOOM!_

Suddenly, for some reason, the weapon went off on its own, sending out an energy ball that began bouncing all around the library until eventually flying straight out the door.

Then, a few seconds later, they heard the sound of a small explosion, and Casey's girlfriend did a small gulp.

"I hope it didn't go into somewhere that was-"

" _Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"_

The young alicorn quickly went into the Crystal Mirror, going back to her world, while Casey felt unsure as to what he should do now.

" _Just relax, love, I haven't even touched you yet! Now, wait there while I get…"_

Casey let out a sigh of relief, and said, "Okay, well, at least-"

" _Hey! What the [BEEP] happened to my room?!"_

"Twilight, wait for me!" yelled Casey, who handed the weapon over to Spike before going through the time-machine.

Not wanting to get into any sort of trouble, the little dragon cried, "Uh, I think I heard Rarity call for me! Bye, Pinkie!"

After handing it over to Pinkie, Spike ran out of the library, leaving the pink Earth pony by herself.

"Am I missing something here?"


	18. Finale, Part 1

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 18 - Finale, Part 1_

 _Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight._

 _ **[Stardust]**_ _So… are you going to add the theme song in here, or… or what?_

 _ **[Me]**_ _*sigh* Okay, FINE… but it still doesn't make this AJBS..._

* * *

 _A few days later_

"Alright, then, Case… you ready for this?"

Casey took a deep breath, and nodded his head, saying, "Uh-huh, definitely… I just hope you're not getting cold hooves or anythin', Star."

"Who, _me_?" replied Stardust, letting out a chuckle. "Not on an important day like this, my friend."

Before Casey could reply, Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared in front of them, and asked, "Hey, are we doin' this or what? Twilight's been waiting for, like, 5 minutes, and she's already getting nervous."

The human-turned-pony rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, we are, Rainbow… even though I know I'm probably gonna win this thing."

"Oh, _as if_ ," exclaimed Casey. "Need I remind you that I got the world advantage over you?"

As they began preparing themselves for their race re-match, Stardust flashed a sly grin at his friend, and said, "Well, just pray that you don't run into any trees this time."

"Believe me, pal… I _won't_ ," replied Casey, who then looked over at the winged pegasus. "Let's get this started!"

Rainbow nodded her head, and before racing over to the finish line, where [my] Twilight awaited them, she said, "Alright, then… in _three, two… one… aaaaannnnd, GO!_ "

 _WHOOSH!_

A few seconds later, Stardust and Casey took off running, with both of them eager to finally defeat the other pony in a race.

As for Rainbow, who was now approaching the alicorn princess, she cried, "Okay, Twilight, they're coming!"

"Thanks!" replied Twilight, continuing to hope that nothing bad would happen to her special somepony during this race.

Going back to Casey and Stardust, neither of the two Earth ponies were breaking a sweat, and just when it seemed like one would get the advantage, the other would quickly catch up.

"I swear, Star, if you're using any of your _enhanced skills_ …"

Stardust chuckled, and he replied, "In a race like this, Casey, I don't have to… cause I'm winning this thing!"

Then, he began to run faster, and was almost close to the finish line when Casey showed up next to him, saying, "Over my dead body!"

"Well, technically, you've already been dead-"

Casey let out a laugh, and he replied, "Oh, _you're_ one to talk about dying, Star-"

 _ **WHAM!**_

Suddenly, right before they could reach the finish line, the two ponies crashed into something that… for some reason... nopony could see.

"What the heck was _that_?" exclaimed a surprised Rainbow.

 _POOF!_

Twilight was about to run over to them, but then, a familiar figure appeared in front of the fallen Earth ponies, and he said, "Oh, darn, I keep forgetting to make my luggage non-invisible."

Rubbing the side of his head with his hoof, Casey muttered, "What the hay do you got in there? A bunch of rocks or-"

He stopped after realizing that he was inches away from the finish line, so Casey crawled towards it as fast as possible, and once the young pony had crossed over, he let out a satisfied cry of victory before lying back down on the ground.

As for Stardust, who was looking up at the individual that was now in front of him, he had finally been able to speak after recovering from the crash.

"Where the _[BEEP]_ have you… _hey! That doesn't count, Casey_!"

"Don't be a sore loser, Star," replied the light-orange pony, and he lowered his head back down.

* * *

 _My Little Pony, My Little Pony_

 _Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh..._

 _(My Little Pony)_  
 _I used to wonder what friendship could be_  
 _(My Little Pony)_  
 _Until you all shared its magic with me_

 _Big adventure_

 _Tons of fun_

 _A beautiful heart_

 _Faithful and strong_

 _Sharing kindness!_

 _It's an easy feat_

 _And magic makes it all complete  
You have my little ponies  
Do you know you're all my very best friends?_

* * *

While Stardust and Casey were helped up to their hooves, Discord laid back in his floating hammock, and said, "Well, what a surprise to see you here, Starlight… I mean, Starbright… no, it's Stardusk, right?"

"Star _dust_ ," growled the annoyed human-turned-pony. "And it's definitely **not** a pleasure to see you here."

Discord let out a fake yawn, and stretched his arms as he replied, "Look, Stardusk, if you're looking at somepony to talk to… have it be the version of me from your world… as for _you_ , Casey, I'm glad that you finally unleashed all of that darkness inside of you."

Before either of the two ponies could respond, Twilight looked up at the draconequs, and asked, "What do you want, Discord?"

"Just wanted to see how my favorite friendship princess was doing before I went to see Fluttershy," said Discord. "But I guess I'm not needed here, so… _adieu,_ Twilight, and nice to see you again, Spacedust."

 _POOF!_

A few seconds later, he was gone, and Stardust muttered some words underneath his breath while Twilight looked at Casey.

"You okay?"

The young pony nodded his head, and said, "Yeah, I'm good… Star?"

"Just peachy," replied Stardust, still rubbing the side of his head. "But now I know who to have a talk with when I go back to my world."

* * *

 _[Twilight's library]_

 _ **Insert "So Long" by Randy Newman**_

Noticing the disassembled weapon on the nearby desk, Stardust looked at the young alicorn, and asked, "So… what's all this about?"

"Well, I figured that if we could put Elixir's weapon to good use," explained Twilight. "There wouldn't be a need for us to ask you for help if something bad ever happened again… you could just stay in your own world."

Before Stardust could respond to that, Casey walked into the library, and said, "Ah, yes, the _'so what now'_ moment… always lookin' forward to these."

The young pony smiled at his friend, but before saying something humorous, he saw that Casey was carrying a wrapped, rectangle-shaped present.

"If this is a way to make up for trashin' my room, Case-"

"No, no, this is me being a good friend with you right now," replied Casey, handing the present to Stardust. "It's for whenever you, uh… miss me or something… so you don't have to come over here as much."

Stardust looked at his friend, still confused,and said, "You sound as if you prefer _not_ having me come to see you… what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Star, really," said a chuckling Casey, while Twilight just observed happily from the sidelines. "It's just that I… after everything that's happened recently, I want the two of us to enjoy our lives for as long as we can… but it should be in our own world's, for the most part."

Noticing his friend's confusion, Casey added, "You said you wanted me to be happy, right? Well, trust me, Star, I _am…_ and now, I want the same for you… you go and have your adventures and life-changing stuff with your family in your world…"

Then, after Twilight walked over to stand by him, Casey finished his sentence.

"I'll have my own over here."

Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and then, a smile appeared on his face.

"You sure ain't the same pony I met that one day, Casey… but I meant what I said before… if something _really_ important ever happens in this world, I'll be here… cause, like you said, we're friends…"

"And friends stick together," said Casey, who then surprised Stardust even more by giving him a hug. "So thanks for being my friend."

"..."

 _Aren't you going to return the favor, Jack?_

Stardust was too stunned to respond, so with a slight giggle, Twilight used her magic to help him hug Casey back, and he mouthed his thanks towards her.

A few seconds later, they broke apart, and as Stardust grabbed ahold of his gift, Casey said, "So… no hard feelings about the stuff with me as Omega, right?"

Stardust chuckled, and he shook his head.

"None whatsoever… oh, um, by the way, Twilight, did you ever find out more about the dimensional limbo?"

"Unfortunately, no," replied Twilight, letting out a sigh of dissapointment. "I can't find any information about it in here, so-"

"Well, what about your special somepony?" suggested Stardust, which made Casey confused. "I mean, he's been in there… _and_ Kronos brought him out, right? Plus, he had his own _revival_ experience, so wouldn't that be something interesting to learn about?"

To his amusement, Twilight gasped in surprise, and said, "Oh, my Celestia, you're right… _Casey_! Stay here while I get my writing supplies and some snacks cause we're going to be here for a while."

As she hurried out of the library, Casey glared at Stardust after realizing what had just happened, and said, "Thank you _so much_ , Star…"

"No problem, my friend," replied Stardust, giving him a quick pat on the back. "Have fun!"

Rolling his eyes, the light-orange pony watched as his friend, with gift in hoof, step through the Crystal Mirror in order to return to his world.

 _I wonder if I should've mentioned the… eh, forget it, not important._

 _###############_

 _After closing away the portal to Casey's world, Kronos looked at the ones that still remained opened, and began to make sure that each and every single one were all okay._

" _Starity World, check… Flutterdust, yes… Moondust… Amore Balance… Applestar… Starset… Dustlight… Pinkie Dust… StarDash... Miles' world... yep, all in order."_

 _With a satisfied nod, Kronos closed up all of the portals, and he went to check on ones that didn't involve ponies._

" _Take care of yourself, you two…"_

* * *

When Stardust stepped out of the mirror, and into his own library, the first thing he did was say, "Huh, I'm getting the hang of that."

Then, walking over to the nearby desk, the young pony carefully began to open up the present that Casey had given him, and once he was finished, he smiled after seeing what it was.

 _It appears to be a photo album._

"Yeah, I can see that," replied Stardust, chuckling, and he opened it to see what kind of photos were inside.

To his surprise (and amusement), the photos were that of all the events that had happened to him ever since he'd first met Casey, which included visiting all of the worlds with an alternate Stardust...

 _Remind me, Starswirl not to not show Twilight these photos._

… as well as him and Casey having fun in virtual reality, the party that had been thrown by the Pinkie Pie from Casey's world, and when they had all gone to London.

 _I'm sensing some emotional happiness from you, Jack… and are you crying?_

"No, of course not," muttered Stardust, even though his eyes were getting a little watery.

 _Well, then I must say… this is an excellent gift from your friend… is it not?_

"Yeah… it is," replied the human-turned-pony, and he continued looking through the album, laughing several times as he remembered-

" _Um, Stardust?"_

Fluttershy walked into the library, taking Stardust by surprise, and she said, "Oh, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Nah, don't even worry," replied Stardust. "What's up?"

The yellow Pegasus handed over an envelope to him, and she said, "This says that it's for you, but for some reason, it got sent to my cottage…"

"Really?" Stardust began opening it, and after pulling out the letter that was inside, he smiled as he started reading it. "Oh, I get why, Fluttershy… and this happens to be a _thank-you_ letter from the alternate version of you."

"... from Casey's world?"

Stardust shook his head, and replied, "No, it's the one from another alternate world, where she's in a relationship with… um, that world's version of me."

Realizing now what he was talking about, a sheepish expression was on Fluttershy's face as she said, "Oh, goodness, I… I'm sorry, Star, I hope that Twilight doesn't get-"

"There's no need to apologize," said an amused Stardust. "It's all in the past… and besides, like I told Sunset, what my girlfriend doesn't know won't hurt her."

* * *

 **[Stardust] Please review, favourite or follow, your decision-**

 **[Me] Hey! I told you that this isn't a chapter of AJBS!**


	19. Finale, Part 2

**MLP: A Journey's End**

 _Chapter 19 - Finale, Part 2_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ _ **belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro.**_

 _ **Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter… and thanks again to the Warrior of Twilight for allowing me to use Stardust, who won't be in the next story much-**_

 ** _*sound effect* BOOOOOOOOO!_**

 ** _[Me] Stardust, I swear, if you-_**

 ** _[SB] Alright, just relax... so, uh, when do I come back exactly?_**

 ** _[Me] I don't know just yet, okay? In the meantime, can you please return to "A Journey Beyond Sanity" for me?_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Thank you! Anyway, enjoy the story's conclusion, everyone!_**

* * *

 _[A few days later, at the Crystal Empire...]_

" _Oh, how I wish I could take this back to Ponyville with us!"_

Applejack rolled her eyes, and said, "For the love of hay, Rarity, you know that we can't do that."

All of the Mane 6 were currently in the room that contained the statues of themselves, and where they had first encountered Rowan, as well as being sent to other worlds far away from their own.

"Twilight, darling, would you happen to know any sort of shrinking spell?" asked Rarity, ignoring what Applejack had said to her.

The young alicorn sighed, and shook her head, saying, "We aren't taking it back with us. Besides, I'm pretty sure that my brother would notice right away if one of the statues that he helped make had suddenly disappeared."

Seeing that she wasn't going to get any help, the white unicorn let out a groan of dissapointment, and replied, "Well, _alright_ … but are you sure that - oh, relax, Applejack, I was only kidding!"

While the two of them started arguing with each other, Fluttershy walked over to Twilight, and asked, "Um, why didn't Casey come with us? Is he okay?"

Twilight smiled at her friend's concern, and said, "Casey's alright, Fluttershy… he just had something more important to take of."

* * *

With a bouqet of flowers in his mouth, Casey continued to walk to his destination.

If today had been a different day, he would have joined Twilight and the others on their trip to the Crystal Empire, but it wasn't… and that's why he was walking alone.

Then, once he reached the designated area, the young pony set down the flowers next to a pile of other bouqets that had been previously left by him, and stepped back a little bit before looking up at what was left of his old home.

"Hey, Mom… hey, Dad…" said Casey, after taking a moment of silence. "Hope you're both having fun up there… doing whatever it is ponies like us do after we leave this world…

"Um, so anyway… yeah, a lot's changed since the last time I was here… I found my special somepony, even though you probably know already who I'm talking about… and I have a whole lot of friends now that care about me-"

" _And who will always be there for you, no matter what."_

The young pony turned around, and was surprised to see Twilight making her way over to him.

"Oh, hi, Twilight… I, uh, thought you'd still be in the Crystal Empire."

His girlfriend gave him a smile, and said, "Yeah, but I became more and more curious about what exactly was so special regarding this day… and now, I can see it."

Looking back at the large pile of flowers, Casey chuckled, and said, "It's one of the days that I look forward to every year… even though it wasn't exactly easy to turn a negative into a positive."

Observing the damage of her special somepony's old home, a look of sadness and regret appeared on Twilight's face as she was reminded of her battle with Tirek.

"Casey, look, I'm sorry about… if I'd known-"

The light-orange Earth pony quickly shook his head, and placed a hoof on top of hers.

"Please don't stress yourself, Twilight… besides, I'm glad that no one else went through this, and I mean, if that hadn't happened, then I probably would have never met you and everyone else… you're all the best things to ever happen to me."

The two of them smiled at each other, and Casey was about to say something else when he noticed that Twilight was using her magic.

"What are you… oh, my… _gosh_ …"

All of the previously-left flowers that were in the pile now looked beautiful and fresh, and once Twilight was done, Casey looked at her with so much love and affection.

"This… I… thank… um…"

"You're welcome," replied Twilight, and she gave him a quick but sweet kiss, which helped Casey relax a little bit. "So, are you ready to walk back home?"

To her surprise, Casey began to chuckle, and he said, "Well, now that I don't have to carry the flowers, I figured I could fly back there now."

"Huh?" said a confused Twilight. "But you don't have wings or a unicorn horn."

" _True_ , but just like our Earth Pony friend, I still have some of Starcade's power, which means…"

Then, he began to levitate himself into the air, and flashed a toothy grin at his girlfriend.

"I wonder if I'm faster than an alicorn…"

Twilight smirked at Casey, and she replied, "Oh, trust me, my special somepony, you're _not_."

"Well, then I guess there's only one way to find out," said the energized pony, as he watched her fly up in the air to join him.

Nodding in agreement, Twilight said, "In three, two, one… _and… GO!_ "

* * *

 _A few hours later_

As the moon and stars began to appear in the night sky, a cloaked pony slowly approached Casey's destroyed house, stopping to look down at the large pile of flowers.

Without saying a word, he simply continued staring at them, and a few seconds later, all of the flowers became engulfed in flames.

A smile appeared on the mysterious pony's face, and the flames continued to rise up in the air, as well as slowly approaching the house itself.

Then, he turned around, and started walking away, laughing quietly to himself…

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
